Ciara Deane

It's sad that Americans haven't adopted mixed zoning with ground floors being open to commercial. In San Francisco, neighborhoods like Rincon Hill and Mission Bay are very modern, clean, and free of homelessness / zombie apocalypse - yet very sterile and dead because there's very little other than apartments and offices. In Seoul, ground floors of high rise apartments are often filled with restaurants, cafes, and cool places for people to hang out. Even if a high rise is strictly residential, restaurants and such are always a short walk away. At 8pm on any weeknight, you won't have any trouble finding somewhere lively to go. In Rincon Hill, it's just block after block of apartment buildings with very little else. Mission Bay is similar (excluding Spark Social). Both areas feel very dead and soulless. Cafes close at 5pm. Very few restaurant options - especially if you just want something cheap, fast, and healthy. I took this picture today right next to the waterfront in Mission Bay. In Korea any waterfront would be filled with sashimi restaurants and people hanging out. Here it's just - an apartment building. Why are there not more restaurants, cafes, and other venues for people to hang out in the U.S? Is it that the zoning laws don't allow this? Wtf is going on here? If we want more vibrant cities, we need to allow more brick & mortar businesses to operate within walking distance, and stop creating these dead soulless apartment-only neighborhoods. American city planners - please travel to Seoul, Tokyo, etc. and see what vibrant cities with mixed zoning look like. We don't have to settle for dull boring neighborhoods. – at San Francisco, CA