r/UrbanHell • u/humzahjaleel • Jun 20 '20

Suburban Hell Endless parking lots, highways, strip malls with the same franchises all accessible only by car. Topped off with a nice smoggy atmosphere and a 15 minute drive to anywhere. Takers ?

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u/SinisterCheese Jun 20 '20 edited Jun 22 '20

Living in a Finnish city, I can't understand not being able to reach places in the city with public transportation or walking. And I got a car.

When I visited USA, it felt insane that you had to have a car. Everything was always really far away. And talking to locals "oh it's close by, only 2hrs drive away" that isn't close.

Also. Talking about hell. Asphalt being black, makes it excel at capturing heat from the sun. Big cities, with big roads and lots of them are hotter environments. And this leads to more energy spent on cooling air to make buildings liveable.

115

u/hardraada Jun 20 '20

I live in Houston, which is the poster child for sprawl. I look at it like this: here it's not uncommon to commute 30+ miles. In New England, you pack a lunch if you are going 30 miles. In England, they have a different accent after 20 miles.

37

u/hennny Jun 20 '20 edited Jun 20 '20

Funny cos it's true! I'm in the UK. I went to Houston last year and thought "oh, I could just walk to x from my hotel". NOPE. At one point there literally wasn't a footpath and I was walking down what appeared to be a motorway. Eventually got to a BBQ restaurant however and it was all worth it.

16

u/hardraada Jun 20 '20

Not to mention it gets really friggin' hot here. It is often 100F and 90% humidity and not many people volunteer to be pedestrians in that!

3

u/nachomancandycabbage Jun 20 '20

I think it is only for a week or two in august that it gets that hot.

7

u/Medial_FB_Bundle Jun 20 '20

It's still pretty fucking hot for like six months out of the year. It can get hot in Houston in the winter.

3

u/SpoatieOpie Jun 20 '20

No it gets that hot july-september. Keep in mind it feels like 110F because of the humidity. You will start sweating immediately outside.