[Steve W]

I came across an anti-up-zoning article in Portland's The NW Examiner: http://nwexaminer.com/some-call-it-vertical-sprawl.

The author distorts so much information trying to back up her agenda. For example, who cares that foreign investors may seldom occupy a unit? The local community would still be collecting high value property tax from the absentee foreign owner, which funds local schools, police, fire, parks and transportation. Her other arguments on high rises somehow decreasing eyes on the street, and leading to social isolation of elderly seem absurd to me. The argument of greater heat loss with high rises supposedly having greater exposed exterior surface area for heat loss must be based on cherry picked examples comparing fully glass sided towers versus well insulated mid-rise with small windows.

There was a recent opinion piece I came across while ago elsewhere that advocated for spaced/dispersed towers with mid-rise pedastals, which give the best of both worlds: better street scale and the increased density of towers. I found that position more persuasive.

 

[Steve W]

Here's the article (Tall Tower Debates Could Use Less Dogma, Better Design) I mentioned favoring spacing high rise towers on predominantly mid rise pedestals: http://www.planetizen.com/node/69073.

 

[Matt the Engineer]

:nuts:

It's painful to come across articles that try to tell people how things are, while being clearly and demonstrably wrong on every point.

The argument of greater heat loss with high rises supposedly having greater exposed exterior surface area for heat loss must be based on cherry picked examples comparing fully glass sided towers versus well insulated mid-rise with small windows.

I'm not about to buy the book she quotes to look for sources, but other than elevator use and potentially domestic water booster pumps, there is no fundamental reason a highrise would ever use more energy per sf than a midrise. With slightly less roof area per sf and with the potential for higher efficiency HVAC equipment that comes with scale they'd actually use less. Of course the real comparison is against the single family homes that would be built out in the far suburbs if we don't upzone in the core, and the energy use comparison there is laughable.