> My SO is a soils engineer/geo-physicist, so I know a bit about the issues at play
what's this? PhD by association?
I came to Bay Area from Japan, I was surprised to hear that high buildings are not a thing here because of earthquakes. For comparison, in Japan there are about 2000 earthquakes that person can feel every year. And somehow monorail/high-speed trains/tunnels/skyscrapers are everywhere. Lazy engineering and crumbling infrastructure which stayed same for decades.
>> My SO is a soils engineer/geo-physicist, so I know a bit about the issues at play
>what's this? PhD by association?
I mean, I did day that I only know a bit about it.
That said, there are differences in the dynamics of the soil between Japan and California; each situation is unique. When it comes to earthquakes, Japan typically has deeper earthquakes due to the subduction zone that it sits above and the earthquakes are compressional(very roughly), while in CA, the earthquakes tend to be shallower along the San Andreas and more strike-slip (again, very roughly) up to 30km down involving mostly the crust. In general, one should not expect that buildings in two different seismic zones should be similar.
I haven't read much to suggest that the Bay Area's lack of tall buildings is the result of earthquake fears or "lazy engineering". Besides the fact that SF's tallest building, the Salesforce Tower, started construction in 2013, SF historically has had tall buildings, before and after the great earthquake. SF's and the rest of the Bay Area's lack of tall buildings seems to be a result of local dictate, in the same way that Kyoto lacks tall buildings. Similarly, it would be foolish/overly simplistic to blame the Bay Area's housing shortage on "lazy home builders".
what's this? PhD by association?
I came to Bay Area from Japan, I was surprised to hear that high buildings are not a thing here because of earthquakes. For comparison, in Japan there are about 2000 earthquakes that person can feel every year. And somehow monorail/high-speed trains/tunnels/skyscrapers are everywhere. Lazy engineering and crumbling infrastructure which stayed same for decades.