The first goal of this site is to educate and inform about urban developments in the Ozarks region. However you may find that I have some opinions regarding the developments which will be shared in the posts. Because of that I want to clarify what I mean by urban, or at least what I think an ideal urban society would be.

Urbanism

Not Automobile Centric

This doesn’t mean that cars aren’t accomodated, but the city cannot be built exclusively for them. They’re expensive to maintain and operate and when minimum wage workers have to pick between a car and a home, they’ll end up homeless living in a car because it’s impossible to get to work without it. They’re also not viable for disabled people, elderly, children, or anyone else who can’t drive.

Maximized Land Use

As mentioned on the left, building massive parking lots is not an effective use of land. There are other wasteful uses however, for example large empty grass fields surrounding office buildings that exist only to make them look “good”. I mean think about it, does anyone actually go hang out there?

Mixed Use Development

This relates to point #1 – you can build dense housing but if that’s all you build (no shops) then people will inevitably need to get in a car to go to the store. Parks, recreation, and offices also need to be mixed in with housing, or at least near them, to make them a viable urban neighborhood.