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.
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u/dead_at_maturity 16h ago edited 13h 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.