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ElJamoquio t1_iu71xg5 wrote

Reply to comment by Odd_Description_2295 in Accessibility by balou918

> This city is old. The only way it could ever be pedestrian friendly is to literally tear out everything and start over

Older than Stuttgart? Vienna? Paris? London?

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Patari2600 t1_iu7dfqa wrote

Large portions of those cities were either partially or completely destroyed by wars in the last 150 years and thus were rebuilt all at once allowing for better planning. Also as mentioned above they have more forgiving terrain and weather. Most Cities from those countries that actually retain their historic city plans suffer from many of the same accessibility issues that Pittsburgh does. I agree with the main point about how we need to maintain our sidewalks better and just generally improve infrastructure but you examples aren't very good.

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ElJamoquio t1_iu7is89 wrote

> Large portions of those cities were either partially or completely destroyed by wars in the last 150 years and thus were rebuilt all at once allowing for better planning

Are you claiming that after WWII London, Vienna, Paris, and Stuttgart widened their streets or changed the map?

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Patari2600 t1_iu900vr wrote

Yes, it literally happened all over Europe and the world. Its a common historical trend in fact, most cities after facing significant destruction, take advantage of the opportunity to replan the city and make significant changes. In addition to long term redesigns of the city starting in the 1840s, Paris was completely rebuilt following its destruction in the Franco Prussian War. London widened some of their main streets throughout the 1800s but did take advantage of the damage done by the blitz to rebuilt portions of the city with wider streets. If you go to London you can see which areas were hit hardest through how wide the streets are. Stuttgart was heavily bombed in WW2, and completely rebuilt after. Vienna also suffered significant destruction during the World Wars and rebuilt with wider roads

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ElJamoquio t1_iu96q34 wrote

> 1840s, Paris was completely rebuilt following its destruction in the Franco Prussian War. London widened some of their main streets throughout the 1800s

Last I checked those dates were all well before WWII that I'd asked about.

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