I recently visited Cambridge, MA to help my brother move, and I think the density of the city is quite nice. I was struck by how little parking they have. I did

I recently visited Cambridge, MA to help my brother move, and I think the density of the city is quite nice. I was struck by how little parking they have. I didn't miss my car at all for the few days I was in Cambridge and Boston. One of my friends and I were talking about parking lots recently, because we had gone to do some shopping at a mall in Chicago. We both found the large amount of parking (by Chicago standards) really off-putting. Parking lots divide in the same way that highways do. A parking lot that has 5 rows of parking seems small when you are in your car, but it's a wide space to cross when you are on foot. In the summer large lots are at least 10-15 degrees hotter than the surrounding area because of the blacktop, and during the winter lots are ringed with walls of piled snow and ice. It's really off-putting. Parking lots are even more oppressive in the suburbs. I briefly worked at a company whose office was across the street from a really nice outdoor mall. I've always enjoyed taking a brief walk during lunch, and so I tried walking to the mall a few times. Despite being across the street, it took about 10 minutes to reach the actual mall, crossing my building's lot, a six lane road, and the mall's lot. Surprisingly, there was a crosswalk at the stoplight, but there was no sidewalk at any other point in between my office and the mall. I only went a few times, because it took so long to reach the mall that I nearly had to head back as soon as I got there, and because drivers in the area were completely oblivious to pedestrians. In the few times I went, I nearly got hit several times by people who were only looking at the light, and not looking for pedestrians in the crosswalk.