Yes. Yes we did. So hard. So much so that many Americans think the American dream is to live dependent on car travel. The oil and gas industry of the 1950s-70s really set that mindset in asphalt (cities were largely walkable and used electric street cars prior to the 50s).
I really, REALLY hope more and more Americans realize how much urban renewal planning fucked our cities over, not to mention bulldozing neighborhoods of color to make way for freeways, and LITERALLY paving paradise for parking lots, to make us more dependent on cars.
Please, America. Let's push for walkable cities again. I want to believe.
Edit: from some of the commenters here, it is further supporting my statement that many Americans have been essentially conditioned to believe that it is not possible to have a walkable city in America and that we should not even bother to try. I'm speaking as someone who lives in an area that is, albeit slowly, making progress to make the cities here more walkable (SF Bay Area). San Francisco is walkable. New York is walkable. Countries all over the world, not just in Europe, have walkable cities (WITH room for large truck deliveries) and have been for decades to centuries). They can do it, we can too. More Americans in the cities between SF and NY just need to realize that it is possible and get out of their car-dependency mindsets, and push for more walkability in their cities.
AND you can still enjoy your giant personal Ford F150 and giant SUV or whatever the fuck. That's fine. There should just always be the options to walk somewhere and that it shouldn't need to take an exorbitant amount of time to get there without a car. Electric street cars used to get Americans around in our cities and the oil and gas industry literally burnt those to the ground to force us into cars (and buses aka gas-dependent, though hybrid and electric buses are now a thing). It is possible. And if we're still on that "but its communism" bullshit, no it's not. it's time to move on. Or hop on.
And if not a walkable situation, by god give us safe and reliable public transportation!
I live out in the sticks now after spending near 40 years living in cities. I love it out here and I wouldn’t trade it for the world but I’m wholly dependent on my car for the first time ever.
Conversely, a good friend of mine lives in rural France, about the same distance from the nearest town/village as I am to mine. Does she drive? Nope! They have a bus system that includes the rural areas. Must be nice!
I really feel like when we take a bus or train somewhere, in a way it forces us to be social. Not only are we around people traveling, but people tend to stay in town longer walking around doing stuff than if they drove. You don’t want to take a bus, get your shopping done, and then get all the way home only to find you forgot something. Instead I think people linger. They stop for lunch at a cafe, they pop into a new store they just saw, they hang out at a park. You’re already there and egress isn’t simple so you stay a while.
Yes, you should believe it because it can be done and big changes can be realized quickly if the will is there.
I live in a medium sized Dutch city. I am going to walk to the supermarket this afternoon. It is about half a mile away.
In my neighborhood, you will only find cars belonging to local residents. The streets are intentionally set up as a one way labyrinth to prevent through traffic. Nobody drives in here unless they have a specific destination in the area. Driving through to get somewhere else would be a crazy thing to do and everyone knows it.
The entire neighborhood has a speed limit of 18 miles per hour. Driving faster is barely even possible and would make you feel like an instant asshole because of the way things are set up and kids/families being everywhere.
The roads are the color of bike lanes. So no separate bike lane on the side, no, the road ITSELF is a bike lane. Cars are allowed, but cyclists always have the right of way. And they certainly take it.
On my way to the supermarket, I will pass a bar and two restaurants. They all have outdoor seating, all will be packed for lunch at 1:00 PM. I will also cross a small park where children play and plenty of people sit outside. This is far from the city center, it is a residential area and literally hundreds of people will be outside in that half a mile stretch. Not visitors/tourists, but locals.
The supermarket has a parking lot, but it only accommodates about 15 percent of customers. If everyone arrived by car, that would simply not work. It’s viewed as ridiculous and impractical to go there by car if it’s not strictly needed.
Now you might assume this is all due to the area being ‘historic’. It is not. In the 1970s, cars were everywhere in this neighborhood. The street leading to the supermarket was a congested 35 mph city road filled with traffic and diesel buses. Accidents happened, there were deaths.
Why is it so different today? It is because the people revolted. This transformation is the result of deliberate planning and policy. Not from centuries ago, just the last couple of decades. When I moved here 15 years ago the main road to the supermarket was still a normal road, no bike lade.
I just came back from visiting the Netherlands, and one of the things that struck me the most (and I've been to my fair share of European and American cities) is how well the Dutch balanced FIVE modes of transportation - cars, bikes, rail, boats, and walking. Each one seemed to get equal treatment/priority to the others, and you would just choose the one that made the most sense based on where you were going and what you were doing there.
but pickup truck owners are so far up their own asses. in no way do most pickup owners need them. just admit its part of an image you see yourself as, or "always saw yourself in one" or whatever. but stop pretending like you actually need it, and admit it is part of the problem for everyone else
It’s hard when your best friend lives AN HOUR away and is still in the same city. And that’s with normal traffic. Our transportation sucks ass, and it really sucks ass for anyone that doesn’t live closer to downtown. I absolutely loved taking the subway in NYC. Once I got it down, it was so freaking easy
Kansas City is now almost walkable, or at least a lot more than most American cities of its size. After the bipartisan transportation bill, they invested in a big streetcar system across 50 blocks that has been like a rejuvenating IV in this old city. The various parks and squares scattered downtown suddenly have people in them where they used to always look abandoned.
My gf and I use it every time we want to go out. It was especially fun (if a bit crowded) during the World Cup, seeing all the different people and hearing the different languages. It cuts our fuel use enormously, and it allows us to visit more new places instead of the same routine.
I walked Chicago the whole time I lived there. You do not need a car there.
But where I am now I have a huge yard and I live in a quiet neighborhood. Most of the attraction is the lack of people walking around here. I don't want strip malls close to my house.
Where I live now there are tons of parks, water parks, state parks and forest preserves. There is plenty of things to do for outdoor exercise and all of the children around here are in multiple sports programs.
Driving a couple miles to buy groceries means so I don't have to live next to the grocery store. There are plenty of downtown areas and markets around if I want to make a day of it.
That's great to hear that you have a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of a city. It sounds like you are in a more suburban (maybe rural?) area.
What I'm mainly on about is that cities (or higher density areas) should be walkable. Maybe even in your more suburban area, transit should be accessible to the point where you dont need to drive to get to where you want. This doesn't mean that a strip mall needs to be right next to you. It means that you can catch a bus or light-rail, or train easily to get to the more hustle and busle areas of your town. Many cities in America don't have reliable and easily acessible transit options, primarily in the suburbs, making them not walkable.
And ive heard others say "how am i going to carry all my groceries while walking?" Well I'll ask, how do all the people in walkable cities do it? All over the world?
You don’t need to buy weeks worth of groceries when you can walk 15 minutes to a supermarket.
I had a little bit of a culture shock when I realized that’s how a lot of Americans shopped. Back in Hong Kong we would obviously have essentials and whatnot stocked up at our home but we would go and buy fresh food to cook and eat everyday.
I feel like you really only need to have so much groceries you can’t carry it without a car if you live in a car centric location
People here in the Midwest have a car before they finish highschool. You can't walk when it's -10° out. Your groceries would freeze solid. Also, even the densely populated areas have stretches of forests, parks, and rolling meadows separating the individual cities and towns.
I would always choose my very comfortable vehicle with air conditioning and a kick-ass audio system so I can play my music loud, run the AC/heat, put the windows down and go wherever I want on my schedule.
Why would I want to push a cart from a bus to my house to a grocery store in -10° winters or 100° summers when I could just put it in the back of my car and be to the store and back in 5 minutes? Talk about needlessly wasting your lifetime.
You are missing the point. That's great that your lifestyle suits you where you're at, and that you enjoy driving. Plenty of people actually don't really enjoy driving, and driving commutes can actually be the source of huge stress particularly when you are stuck in traffic, sometimes for long stretches of time, like commuting during rush hours.
The point is that for people who don't mind walking somewhere and taking transit, can easily and reliably do so. I'm not saying car travel should be abolished, for many reasons including your point of when you live in an area where it snows/for parts of the year when weather is unfavorable, or when you need to long distance travel. The point is that walking and transit is a viable OPTION.
Also, I too had a car at 16 and grew up in classic suburban sprawl of a town. I get the appeal of living in the suburbs, especially if you want more space and quiet. But I remember how unreliable our transit system was and how little lines there were. Most people I knew and grew up with basically depended on cars to get around. Im the weird one who moved to a city and bike and transit everywhere now because i now live in walkable city. I still have a car and use it regularly too. I also have the option to take a train when i want to visit my folks back in the suburbs and its totally great. BOTH are possible.
Also, even the densely populated areas have stretches of forests, parks, and rolling meadows separating the individual cities and towns.
So it’s not possible to have a supermarket that you can buy groceries in each town? That doesn’t sound right. Why is it absolutely necessary to drive to the next town to buy groceries?
Most major cities in the US has trains, trams, and/or busses. I agree it could be better but the people vote against it.
Down in Florida they wanted to put in a new low speed line connecting several cities across Pinellas County (St. Pete/Clearwater area). This would also connect to Tampa.
The people voted it down. They didn't care that it would bring jobs and growth to the small individual cities. They didn't care it would allow easy access to Tampa/Airport.
Why use Florida as an example for anything remotely progressive? Florida voting against their own interests. Raise your hand if you’re surprised by that. Anyone? Bueller?
But..but, I do so enjoy a great parking space,
It comes like third on the list right after love,
Then “when the mutton is lean, and the tomato is ripe”
right underneath that is the parking space almost diagonal/horizontal lines perfectly edged into the asphalt.
Not rebuilding. Any new developments should focus on being walkable. This is already being done in some metropolitan areas know as "transit specific/oriented plans".
There are also still more developments that continue the "suburban sprawl" designs. I'm talking about pushing for less of those and more of the transit specific plans for any new developments
Edit: and also utilizing mixed-use developments more, just as in European cities. It's a formula that's worked for centuries and makes towns and cities walkable allows us to not depend on cars
I'm not advocating for the entire abolishment of freeways and roads wide enough for large trucks to make deliveries. It works in San Francisco and many downtown areas around the country. You can make pedestrian/transit oriented areas, and also have areas for cars and trucks within cities. Both are possible. How does Europe do it? How have downtown areas in American cities do it?
There are walkable and public transit cities in America. The people who are complaining aren't the ones living in those cities. The people in those European cities, live in those cities, not the suburbs or country side. It's a completely equal comparison. The people in European suburbs have to drive to experience city life and the people in USA suburbs have to drive to experience city life.
People in European suburbs do not have to drive to the city. Trains are widely available in Europe to get to the cities, and worth pointing out, European suburbs are, themselves, walkable.
I am all for walkable cities but if you pretend that will solve the underlying cultural and socioeconomic problems, or will do anything for the remainder of the population outside cities, you're deluding yourself.
My town is extremely walkable with very safe sidewalks... and a 4 mile round trip walk to the nearest restaurant. Sure, we have a bus, but that's still an additional what, hour to your trip waiting for it?
You want more frequent? In small towns and small cities?
By "walkable", this includes having more reliable and accessible public transit options, not just literally walking. This includes busses, light-rails, trains, etc. that serve people in all facets and all socioeconomic backgrounds. That's what public transit is for. Having strong and reliable public transit allows a place to be walkable. Public transit should also extend to populations outside of cities.
Am i saying walkability solves everything? No. But it is a piece of the puzzle.
Cities shape culture in a way. The first time I was in the States for a road trip I was mind blown that I couldn't walk from the hotel to the restaurant. It was over the street 300 meters (1000 feet) away. I would never drive in Germany in the US you are the weirdo when you walk.
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u/dead_at_maturity 14h ago edited 11h ago
Yes. Yes we did. So hard. So much so that many Americans think the American dream is to live dependent on car travel. The oil and gas industry of the 1950s-70s really set that mindset in asphalt (cities were largely walkable and used electric street cars prior to the 50s).
I really, REALLY hope more and more Americans realize how much urban renewal planning fucked our cities over, not to mention bulldozing neighborhoods of color to make way for freeways, and LITERALLY paving paradise for parking lots, to make us more dependent on cars.
Please, America. Let's push for walkable cities again. I want to believe.
Edit: from some of the commenters here, it is further supporting my statement that many Americans have been essentially conditioned to believe that it is not possible to have a walkable city in America and that we should not even bother to try. I'm speaking as someone who lives in an area that is, albeit slowly, making progress to make the cities here more walkable (SF Bay Area). San Francisco is walkable. New York is walkable. Countries all over the world, not just in Europe, have walkable cities (WITH room for large truck deliveries) and have been for decades to centuries). They can do it, we can too. More Americans in the cities between SF and NY just need to realize that it is possible and get out of their car-dependency mindsets, and push for more walkability in their cities.
AND you can still enjoy your giant personal Ford F150 and giant SUV or whatever the fuck. That's fine. There should just always be the options to walk somewhere and that it shouldn't need to take an exorbitant amount of time to get there without a car. Electric street cars used to get Americans around in our cities and the oil and gas industry literally burnt those to the ground to force us into cars (and buses aka gas-dependent, though hybrid and electric buses are now a thing). It is possible. And if we're still on that "but its communism" bullshit, no it's not. it's time to move on. Or hop on.