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It’s a little different on the ground though he’s right in many areas and cities. But most urban centers very walkable and local, with towers mixed in. Even downtown Beijing, with many neighborhoods and shops everywhere.
Napoleon III had that idea for large boulevards should you need a Whiff of Grapeshot bit of crowd control.
He is mostly correct. Beijing is moderately walkable, especially areas near hutongs (Nanluoguxiang, Houhai, Qianmen).
The overall size of the city, buildings and streets are indeed imposing. It is far easier to travel short distances by bike (which are everywhere!) than by foot.
Haven’t been in 10 yrs, but center (I was mostly in beijing) felt dense. Outer ring (line 10) is just as Dwarkesh describes. To me it looked like krushchev housing but taller and newer/nicer. And then there are towns with hundreds of thousands of people that felt like a village.
Shanghai is better. Beijing is imposing. I haven’t to Hangzhou since covid but it was a very pleasant city pre-covid.
IMHO Chinese superblock development is due primarily to expediency and only secondarily to social control. I wrote some articles about this back in the day:
Never seen a YIMBY advocate for 8 lane roads...
In general, if you're a YIMBY libertarian, I would encourage you to think of Tokyo, which is probably the opposite extreme from a lockdown perspective. Much less controllable than a typical American suburb
Interesting read. Though a bit naive. Reminds videos of influencer who were invited by SheIn to selectively showcase beautiful ethical factories and great work conditions of sweatshops. I'd say tourists usually see only tourist-worth places—this way any country looks amazing.
There are European cities that were designed to facilitate governmental control and potential militarization of urban space.
China is really ugly. Forced modernization is not good for traditional cities
I dunno, I found that kind of layout very pleasant for walking, cycling. Was weird to see Dwarkesh article somehow convolute that to being amenable for crowd control (?)
Not saying that China isn't a state control dystopia - but Chinese urban spaces are safe & pleasent.
Copy pasting tall apartment buildings and cram them in a small area is a sin artistically speaking. It’s like growing an artificial forest. A natural forest is beautiful for its diversity and variety.
The architecture in China and also in the ex-Soviet states are totally reflective of totalitarianism. In fact Speer's Berlin was also like that.
City and regional planning in China is dictated by government bureaucrats and administrative officials, with almost no input from general public. YIMBY, or NIMBY, is a paradigm which does not apply to China.
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The phrase "Late-Stage Capitalism" dates to 1902, and was re-popularized by Ernest Mandel's "Late Capitalism", which argued the 1970s would be the pinnacle of human productivity.
People who believe it describes our current era of extraordinary opportunity are doomsday cultists.
becoming part of the European aristocracy is one step less prestigious and interesting than producing your own Netflix show. Which is one step below being a prolific and renowned shitposter on x.com
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Netflix
@netflix
Love is in the details. 
With Love, Meghan, a new series, premieres January 15.
With Love, Meghan, a new series, premieres January 15.1:37
My favorite part about Stanford is finding random classes that end up having insane speaker lineups
This man is about to become an inland waterway respecter
Civilization barely even exists without them
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Lenny Bogdonoff
@rememberlenny
Is there an obvious explanation for why the frequency of dense urban cities stop halfway through the US?
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