Friday, February 17, 2012

Benefits of Living Under a Highway?

Places like New York have the highest living costs. One reason, of course, is scarcity. The demand for living space in this area is so high because of the nice views and other benefits there are. How to increase the amount of living space in the city? This article talks about combining bridges, or highways, and incorporating other aspects to them so that they can be used for more than one thing. This also relates to maximum efficiency in a way, because something is being used to the best of its ability. Why just use a bridge or highway to merely go from one place to another? What if, in New York, more apartments were built underneath bridges? Architects nowadays can design masterful plans to make this idea feasible. Those that lived in them would still get a great view and those types of benefits. Adding these would increase the amount of living space, helping the fact that good places are scarce. It also uses the bridge or highway to its full potential, as a bridge or highway can do more than just get people from place to place. It does not only have to stop at adding apartments, things like shops and restaurants can be added as well. A mere highway could suddenly turn into a large metropolis area and reap other economic benefits as well.

4 comments:

D.McKee said...

Building living spaces under bridges and highways is a concept that never crossed my mind. I think that there is some credibility in this because of the rising living costs in major cities. However, I personally would not want to live under a bridge. There are health concerns, as well as safety concerns to this idea. I would like to see a real plan for this to be done before I would support it. I guess all economic ideas had a starting point. The question I have is how are people going to get to work if the highways are being shut down to build on? Also, how is noise going to be reduced to a point where people could live peacefully? I would need to talk to one of these inventors before I would support it, but economically speaking, this is a very novel idea.

Anonymous said...

I highly doubt it would be economically feasible. Such apartments/homes would most likely be low income housing, maybe section 8. To make apartments under bridges and highways even remotely livable, they would require a ton of extra money to make them safe, and quiet. Unless there were expensive sound proving building materials used, they would be usable with a highway right next to it. Also, to make them safe and secure, it would be much more expensive. If a normal apartment had structural problems, that would be an issue. If one built under a bridge or next to a highway, that could partially shut down a large city. Good idea, not very practical though.

Peyton Moore said...

This is a cool idea, and i checked out the article. The article says that modern architects have gotten the idea from old towns in Europe, such as Florence. That seems more practical, because the traffic is so much smaller. But to pull something off like this in NYC is on a whole different caliber. Like what was said previously, safety, comfort and cost would all be compromised. But just like every other invention, in time things are always fixed with trial and error. Look how crappy the 1 generation iPod is and look at your iPhone know. I think these would have to take some adjusting and would cost a lot, which probably makes architects more hesitant. But it would be a really neat thing to pull off. Also, who knows if it would be section 8. It could be a desirable place to live like town homes and city lofts, depending on what kind of buyers they have in mind when they build them. With technology growing the way it is, Im sure there is a way to make this happen and i would love to see it happen!

Aditya said...

I know the possibility of this idea actually happening is low, but the feasibility of it should be left to the architects. It is amazing what can be done nowadays. I watched Bjarke Ingels, an architect mentioned in this article's TED talk, and seen what he has accomplished. I have no doubt in my mind that tis task can be accomplished with the most experienced working at it. Places under bridges could be nicer than places that exist now, you never know.