Very well said, with one minor (but significant) nitpick. The US was not built for cars. It was bulldozed for them. There are a lot of good stories about this, but The Power Broker is a great one, or any of myriad YouTube videos about Robert Moses (many of which draw directly on The Power Broker).
So was much of Europe. WWII leveled a lot of cities and many of them thought it was going to be a great opportunity to build more auto infrastructure and be more like the US as they rebuilt. The same midcentury madness happened to them as happened across the Atlantic. The same mistakes were made. But like basically all of the world outside of the Americas, they quickly saw what a catastrophe it was and slowed or even reversed course the insanity.
like basically all of the world outside of the Americas
I’m not sure this is really the case, unfortunately.
It’s certainly not true here in Australia, and from what I’ve heard it’s also not true across the Tasman. Both Aus and NZ have followed the American model of car-dependency. Not quite as bad as America, perhaps, but in line with Canada.
Where I grew up in Vietnam, it’s also not true. But just on a massive delay compared to Australia. When I first moved there, and for most of the time I was there, it was actually really good. Many streets were narrow, people mostly rode motorbikes, bicycles were common. Everything was convenient and walkable medium-density neighbourhoods.
But go there today and the car dominance is clear. Roads get insanely congested. The street I grew up on, once blocked off at one end to prevent through-traffic, has now been opened up and is much busier. Whole communities are being displaced for the sake of widening roads. Subjectively, it seems like a similar story plays out in a lot of developing countries.
Very well said, with one minor (but significant) nitpick. The US was not built for cars. It was bulldozed for them. There are a lot of good stories about this, but The Power Broker is a great one, or any of myriad YouTube videos about Robert Moses (many of which draw directly on The Power Broker).
So was much of Europe. WWII leveled a lot of cities and many of them thought it was going to be a great opportunity to build more auto infrastructure and be more like the US as they rebuilt. The same midcentury madness happened to them as happened across the Atlantic. The same mistakes were made. But like basically all of the world outside of the Americas, they quickly saw what a catastrophe it was and slowed or even reversed course the insanity.
I’m not sure this is really the case, unfortunately.
It’s certainly not true here in Australia, and from what I’ve heard it’s also not true across the Tasman. Both Aus and NZ have followed the American model of car-dependency. Not quite as bad as America, perhaps, but in line with Canada.
Where I grew up in Vietnam, it’s also not true. But just on a massive delay compared to Australia. When I first moved there, and for most of the time I was there, it was actually really good. Many streets were narrow, people mostly rode motorbikes, bicycles were common. Everything was convenient and walkable medium-density neighbourhoods.
But go there today and the car dominance is clear. Roads get insanely congested. The street I grew up on, once blocked off at one end to prevent through-traffic, has now been opened up and is much busier. Whole communities are being displaced for the sake of widening roads. Subjectively, it seems like a similar story plays out in a lot of developing countries.