K1052
Elite Member
- Aug 21, 2003
- 48,087
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When it comes to California(or the West Coast in general from Cali all the way to Alaska)there are numerous Environmental considerations as well. Being on major Fault Lines with high risk of Earthquakes makes some terrain unsuitable for High Density buildings or you may want to control Densities in order to better respond to such a disaster. Another big issue is Water which is in short Supply. When you are already reaching the limits of Water Supply, increasing the Population does not seem wise.
No. Asia builds both dense and tall despite earthquake risk. This can be substantially mitigated with technology and building codes. Urban areas are the most efficient users of water there are, it is the inland ag guys using flood irrigation to grow crops (often for export) that are the problem as the supply has wained. The irony is that we don't need to build Tokyo to fix this since allowing a couple extra floors to be built, eliminating parking minimums/min unit sizes/setbacks, and zoning more widely for housing would do it. The first one was actually proposed in SF when I lived there and the prospect of turning a 2 floor building into a 4 floor building caused people to shit bricks. We're not exactly talking about turning the Sunset District into Shinjuku here.
California has a housing crisis because California, chiefly it's municipalities, obstructs housing from being constructed. The issue is non-partisan. Go see what reaction trying to build apartments in the Beach Cities of Orange County gets you where there are conservatives aplenty.
