'Walkable City' Enthusiast Tries to Talk Up City Life... But WHY Did He Choose THAT Horrible Picture?

There are many nice things about living in a walkable urban area, just as there are of course downsides to living in one. What you lose out on in privacy and having a yard for your kids to play in is, often times, offset by having cultural activities and shopping within an easy walking distance from your house or at least a short bus ride from your house. It's a trade off that many are happy to make, but it's a trade off that some people think everyone should make and they'll often wander around telling everyone why they really should be living in a nice walkable city to help save the earth or for their own sanity or whatever. Usually these jeremiads are accompanied by pictures of some weird but interesting urban landscape from Hong Kong or Singapore or concept art of a brand-new city built in the deserts of the Middle East or something... because that will look appealing to most people in one way or another. Usually these urban-boosting posts are not accompanied by a picture of a dirty street in a Pennsylvania rust belt town because... well, look for yourself.

Pennsylvania's smaller cities like Allentown are a good reminder that it's possible to achieve impressive density with pedestrian-scaled streets outside of large metros. pic.twitter.com/ce6UNvNmbJ
— Daniel Trubman, Rootless Cosmopolitan (@dmtrubman) May 6, 2024

Yeah... normally the idea behind these things is to make that way of life look appealing. Nothing against the people who live on that street, I'm sure they're fine people and they're going their best, but clearly not many people looked at this photo and thought 'awww yeah, that's the good life right there'.

Hard pass pic.twitter.com/nB6hiO8oKr
— Fuzzy Dunlop (@FuzzyTaylor235) May 9, 2024

Why is the ground littered with trash?
— Echo Chamber (@echo_chamberz) May 7, 2024

This is awful. It looks like a slum. And why do its residents just throw all their rubbish on the ground? pic.twitter.com/2LWnSPHYzN
— Amygator 🐊 *not an actual alligator (@AmyA1A) May 9, 2024

It's really not an unreasonable question.

I’d rather live in a castle like this pic.twitter.com/vyhUz7AlW5
— Cyfluthrin (@Twi77erSuxDong) May 9, 2024

Few photos can encapsulate why people migrate to suburbs quite as fully as this one.
— Mike Saunders (@mikesaunders) May 6, 2024

No trees, likely no back yards, no central AC, no parking spaces, no broadband internet. Must be fun after a heavy snow storm.
— two5poundnotes (@two5poundnotes) May 6, 2024

Again, nothing specifically against Allentown but surely it has better streets that could have been used here, right? The Allentown Chamber of Commerce might consider filing a defamation suit against this guy.

So basically, we should aspire to live like impoverished immigrant mill workers in East Coast/Rust Belt industrial cities (not to mention Sheffield, Birmingham, etc.) from the early 19th to mid-20th centuries.

No thank you. My ancestors did that so I wouldn’t have to.
— SNAFU (@FritzPeasant) May 9, 2024

Again, nothing against the people who live in these houses but even they would surely say that they're not living high on the hog here. Although... you know, maybe they could try to pick up the trash on the street a bit more. That's a little bit against them.

Well this looks miserable. https://t.co/8Np7WSJr4W
— Laura W. (@BumpstockBarbie) May 9, 2024

This is the hood. https://t.co/q7KpePPNL6
— Wilfred Reilly (@wil_da_beast630) May 9, 2024

I, personally, would have found a better depiction of “pedestrian-scaled streets.” https://t.co/x99MyiGPxX
— Arthur Boreman (yes, that Arthur Boreman) (@ArthurBoreman) May 9, 2024

There have to be better pictures out there, there have to be.

Seriously, if you want to live in an urban area that's great we're all happy that you're happy. But if you're going to go out into the world and spread the good news of living in a walkable city try to find a picture that actually looks like a place in which people would aspire to live, dude. Just our suggestion.