Alan Watts on unregulated City living
 

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...Alan Watts' "bohemian" house, when he moved off the houseboat in Sausalito, was in Marin, up on the South slope of Mt Tamalpais, in Druid Heights. It stumbled on for quite a while after he died, hosting various San Francisco renaissance movements. But eventually the National Park Service gobbled it up using eminent domain, and now it's kind of mouldering away there. It's usually pretty rainy and foggy up there, but maybe the drought has helped to stop some of the decay.

https://www.sfexaminer.com/the_fs/fo...5ff6300c8.html

" It might not appear on Google maps, but Druid Heights in Mill Valley holds a permanent place in the establishment of San Francisco’s legacy. Though only a handful of precarious structures and whispers of long-silenced musical gatherings remain, for over three decades, Druid Heights was the ultimate getaway from The City, one that deserves due credit for the progressive, artistic identity the region enjoys today. "

San Francisco has been made untenable by overpricing due to Silicon Valley, a mono culture. Not surprising that Google and Apple employees are bussed to work clandestinely.

Here in Tokyo housing is unregulated. Zoning is essentially nonexistent, and there are no restrictions on designs, colors, or styles when it comes to buildings. The only exceptions are historical districts, which are few and far between. In Japan you can build what you want, where you want, regardless of its effect on your neighbors' property value. You might have a home with an open lot on one side, and a view of the park in front, but another person can build a structure occupying that lot, and blocking your view, and there is nothing you can do about it. In Tokyo you'll often see houses in such locations that you wonder how their owners can get into them.

Multi-use buildings can house factories, retail spaces, post offices, schools, and restaurants in one place. There are slaughterhouses in the city located next to residences and schools, such locations are not desirable, but they are very reasonable. Japan also allows structures to be built under highways and railways, which are also less expensive than other locations. Since there is no zoning, you don't have to go far to find shops, stores, or other services, there is no place in Tokyo where such places are more than walking distance.

But this lack of regulation greatly increases the number of less expensive homes and apartments. I live in what is the most expensive area in Tokyo (making it one of the most expensive places in the world), tower condominiums here run from $3 million to $55 million. Yet even in this neighborhood, you can find a small, single room apartment with a kitchenette, bath, and air conditioning for $700 or so per month. These buildings are old, not pretty, and certainly not large, but they have all the modern necessities, and move-in costs can be surprisingly reasonable. Across the way are the Ritz Carlton residences next to Hinokicho park, rents start at $10,000 per month, yet right across the street from the Residences are dormitory apartments for lower-level company workers with families.

Tokyo is a widely eclectic city due to the lack of any standards in building styles and types, but that is one of the things which make it such an interesting place to live.

Zoning is different than building codes. Mogudishu doesn't have building codes.

Thank you for posting.

Sand County Almanac is one of my favorite books. Aldo Leopold made similar observations of farms. Using and regulating every inch of ground as opposed to letting some places remain wild.

In Japan there are no official building codes for structures with fewer than 3 floors. The industry sets its own standards, which are quite high. In Japan's urban and rural areas there are a surprising number of old (really old) houses which would be immediately condemned as *unsafe* for habitation in America or Europe. But the lack of codes or standard means that these places can continue to be occupied, even when they look to be on the verge of falling on the occupants' heads. These old house often do collapse or go up in flames, yet the Japanese still oppose the creation of minimum safety standards.

As for Mogadishu, it's a place I recommend people take the time to visit, not than anyone has taken my advice. A visit to Mogadishu is a great way to learn humility and gratitude. Many of the streets and public places were named after famous socialists and Marxists, perhaps they still are. At the time it seemed quite apt, a little mix of "Mad Max" and "1984."

So why is it that deregulation in urban areas is supposed to generate flakes and fairies, while unregulated rural areas consistently produces people that cling to God and guns?
Isn't what made Marin county attractive and valuable not the cultural manure of Bohemian culture, but the way they managed to get the federal government to lock up most of the land in national and state parks, preserves, and reservations, blocking any kind of development so that the value of the limited supply of developable land skyrocketed resulting in gentrification and the almost total exclusion of anything resembling poor people?

Yes.
To preserve their “small town feel.”

Funny thread. I am glad I am not in the west.

...Marin's original appeal was open space just across the Bay Bridge, and a significant land mass that was far enough back from the coastal fog that constantly socks in San Francisco. It's a nice place to live on a hillside, and watch the fog roll in and out over the bay, enjoying the moderating effect on temperatures of the nearby Pacific ocean, but still see the sun most days. I don't know who lives there now, but you didn't used to need to be rich to do it. Now, you probably do.

It's regrettable on a forum devoted to bicycles that more people don't remember Marin's significant role in the evolution of mountain bikes.

And he was dead at 27........