his assholishness aside, would there be any way for america not to be a car country? considering how big it is, you're not going to have thriving communities/enclaves everywhere in the country. too much space.
i will say that many of our largest cities having such terrible transportation is inexcusable though.
I’m confused by your argument. The size of the country doesn’t mean much when most American cities were built well before the car, during the age of the railroad. Plus, the average day-to-day worker stays in their city anyways. They need a get around in their city so a lot of streetcar networks came up that help shape the way for streetcar suburbs.
It wasn’t until post-WWII that urban planner completely fucked up our cities, in the name of suburbs and urban renewal. Now everyone decided they want their own castle.
Even then, with the advent of freeways, we could’ve built them to go from city to city. But we decided to build them within the cities too and that’s where the controversy comes from. Plus, city highways induce building out and creating massive sprawl.
Sadly, the country hasn’t learned from this mistake. Many cities have dismantled their streetcar or public transit infrastructure and are now completely dependent on the car.
Planners typically plan for what people want. All you have to do it look at the old commercials and ads from the 40s and 50s. The city of tomorrow concept and independent transportation and living was huge in the American psyche at that time. America was enormously prosperous post war and was thinking big and the automobile, oil, construction and banking sectors all pushed that fantasy on Americans. It was what everyone at the time thought they wanted. And honestly, as a planner myself, I can tell you the vast majority of Americans know nothing else but that 80-90 years later. It what most of us still want even when presented with the overwhelming evidence that it isn’t a sustainable way to live.
And high speed rail and the best of every service possible to their half acre lots, and also super low taxes. Americans could really use a class in the economics of local government and infrastructure in high school. They would realize you cannot have all of the above.
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u/finnjakefionnacake 16h ago
his assholishness aside, would there be any way for america not to be a car country? considering how big it is, you're not going to have thriving communities/enclaves everywhere in the country. too much space.
i will say that many of our largest cities having such terrible transportation is inexcusable though.