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Hamish Buchanan

@hughster Old towns all over where I live in Ontario have centres full of solid commercial building and fine houses. They were quite prosperous. There were regional train services and milk-run buses regularly.

8 comments
Hughster

@hamishb OK, fine, that's towns. What about the villages?

Hamish Buchanan

@hughster Or, OK, how about you say what "development" means to you, because that's where we began? Is it car dependent lifestyles?

Chris Blake

@hughster @hamishb I wonder if we're partly talking past each other about this issue of what constitutes a "town" vs. a "village". Where I'm from the terms are basically used interchangeably, just with a village being slightly smaller.

Chris Blake

If you're talking about settlements that are both so tiny and so remote that they can't feasibly have any type of transit service but you also can't feasibly ride a (possibly electric) bicycle to the nearest town that does (or could) have public transit links, my position is that people should be encouraged to move (with economic assistance if needed) to settlements that are not so remote from the rest of society.

Chris Blake replied to Chris

Unless they actually prefer a very remote, almost purely subsistence-based lifestyle, in which case I respect that, but they also need to be willing to accept the implications of it. As @hamishb pointed out, it is never going to be biophysically sustainable for significant numbers of people to have quick and convenient access to both rural and urban extremes at the same time. That's a peculiarly "first world" extravagance we indeed cannot afford.

Hughster replied to Chris

@chrisblake @hamishb And there we have it: "depopulate the countryside". Knew it wasn't far beneath the surface! You people are fanatics and you deserve to lose.

Chris Blake replied to Hughster

@hughster
You've literally taken *the exact opposite* of what I just said and falsely attributed it to me - complete with a fake quote, no less! I'm sorry, but I've really tried with you here, and I think it will be as clear to others as it is to me that you're not interested in discussing this in good faith. Have a good one.
@hamishb

Hughster replied to Chris

@chrisblake On reflection a harsh response on my part, so apologies. It is pretty much the upshot of what you said though, from what I can tell, i.e. that people in the countryside who genuinely need cars to get around should have to move. That is an extreme position.

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