I genuinely believe that people think that the natural state of a city is to look mostly the same forever and that driving into these frozen cities from single-family suburbs is how things have always been. That these things are why housing is now expensive breaks people's minds.
@HousingSpock People reach middle age, and realize that time is not slowing down, in fact each year becomes a smaller and smaller fraction of your life -- time starts moving faster. And they do whatever they can to create an illusion of control that they can slow it down or stop it.
@HousingSpock They move into an area, and want the same thing that brought them there.
@HousingSpock Indeed. My dad is convinced that the “natural” size of his town is the size when he grew up, even though his parents moved there into a new SF neighborhood and he built a house himself in a new SF neighborhood. The town has grown ever year since it was founded. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@HousingSpock I think one of the perfect examples of this is Venice. It had a boom back in the day, built out the city, and then...the boom ended. So what was built was sufficient for a long time, but it also wasn't likely growing at all like what people today expect and want.
@HousingSpock It’s why most of the USA has destroyed anything that makes them unique and wonderful 😭😭😭hopefully we can reverse it
@HousingSpock I believe when people complain about “gentrification” they’re complaining about exactly this. Americans don’t like seeing change, and they assume it must be to blame for everything going wrong.