I really find on of the worst things about going to unfamiliar places in the USA to be the lack of public toilets. I understand the reason, our homelessness is out of control and many young people have little respect for public spaces. Still, it is frustrating. In the UK, public pay toilets are common and owners and employees of small restaurants and pubs do not seem to take any issue with a quick visit to the loo even if one is not purchasing. Denmark is a step higher with common free public toilets that are clean and in working order. Day to day life is made very nice by having a high trust society.
The only place I travel to regularly is Tokyo so I don't know if this is a Japan thing or an "everyplace except America" thing, but one of the greatest things about the city, seriously, is that there are public toilets everywhere. In every metro station, in every little park, etc. It's just so much easier to exist in a human body there.
I do think that one reason they're so good at this is a grim one - it's part of disaster preparedness infrastructure - but that doesn't mean we couldn't follow the example.
I will not make a purchase from a business that won’t let me use the restroom. I once left a huge pile of goods on the counter and walked out, never to return.
"The nice thing about the downtown form is that you can see other things, though. Churches, civic buildings, schools, historical plaques, and homes might all be sprinkled in or very nearby. You really can get a glimpse—narrow and incomplete, but still—of the whole place."
What is the "downtown form?" Robert Fogelson discusses this a historical question in Downtown: Its Rise and Fall. Of course, Fogelson is treating downtown as a phenomenon specific to major US cities. Are there other forms of downtown depending on urban scale?
Good question. I mean the core commercial area of a historic city, which is Main Street in a small town and several blocks in a place the size of Frederick. It feels like the same basic thing to me.
I really find on of the worst things about going to unfamiliar places in the USA to be the lack of public toilets. I understand the reason, our homelessness is out of control and many young people have little respect for public spaces. Still, it is frustrating. In the UK, public pay toilets are common and owners and employees of small restaurants and pubs do not seem to take any issue with a quick visit to the loo even if one is not purchasing. Denmark is a step higher with common free public toilets that are clean and in working order. Day to day life is made very nice by having a high trust society.
Yes.
The only place I travel to regularly is Tokyo so I don't know if this is a Japan thing or an "everyplace except America" thing, but one of the greatest things about the city, seriously, is that there are public toilets everywhere. In every metro station, in every little park, etc. It's just so much easier to exist in a human body there.
I do think that one reason they're so good at this is a grim one - it's part of disaster preparedness infrastructure - but that doesn't mean we couldn't follow the example.
We're actually installing some public bathrooms in our downtown, so hopefully that helps.
They're these pre-manufactured self-cleaning bathrooms from a firm up in Canada.
They look pretty nice, very sturdy, so I'll be curious to see how they turn out.
I will not make a purchase from a business that won’t let me use the restroom. I once left a huge pile of goods on the counter and walked out, never to return.
Well, they were going to let me use it if I bought something, which isn't as bad
"The nice thing about the downtown form is that you can see other things, though. Churches, civic buildings, schools, historical plaques, and homes might all be sprinkled in or very nearby. You really can get a glimpse—narrow and incomplete, but still—of the whole place."
What is the "downtown form?" Robert Fogelson discusses this a historical question in Downtown: Its Rise and Fall. Of course, Fogelson is treating downtown as a phenomenon specific to major US cities. Are there other forms of downtown depending on urban scale?
Good question. I mean the core commercial area of a historic city, which is Main Street in a small town and several blocks in a place the size of Frederick. It feels like the same basic thing to me.