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> in a society dominated by cars, there are going to be people without cars that can't easily get to work. You didn't have that problem pre car, "pre car" peop

> in a society dominated by cars, there are going to be people without cars that can't easily get to work. You didn't have that problem pre car, "pre car" people would walk or ride horses/bicycles for hours to work. You can still do that now, or go faster by bus. > Cars create sprawl, Growing cities create sprawl. Necessary infrastructure for large cities (yes, you need fire trucks, garbage trucks, buses) as well as parking space for convenient door-to-door transport slightly increases it.

benj111 8y ago
You'll find that commuting time has stayed fairly stable, we just travel further now. Poor policies and the car create sprawl, not growth. Visit a city that developed pre car, no sprawl. New York was designed with massively wide streets, space for all the things you cite and didn't suffer from sprawl. "parking space for convenient door-to-door transport slightly increases it." Slightly? I can't think of any shop with dedicated parking where the shop is bigger than the car park. Then think of all the houses with a driveway that you pass on the way to work. Each drive is an extra 8ft of frontage, that's an extra 8ft road to be built, and that you need to drive back and forth every day, and that's just the ones you can see.
- azeotropic 8y ago
  I find the assertion that NYC didn't sprawl somewhat odd. Weren't all the city's parks on the frontier of the city when Olmstead laid them out? (and, in the process, invented the "parking space") "Slightly? I can't think of any shop with dedicated parking where the shop is bigger than the car park." WalMart? Home Depot? Kroger? IKEA? I can show google maps if desired, but that's definitely not uncommon in the U.S. That extra 8ft of frontage is also extra backyard, which many people enjoy. I don't think people choose to live so far apart because they have cars, they live so far apart because they want to, and the car makes it possible. I suspect many would love to live even further apart if they could.
francisofascii 8y ago
Just look at a map with satellite view of any sprawling area. You will notice a ton of wasted space, mostly due to parking lots, and empty space between the businesses and and the houses. It gets worse you farther you go out from the city center.

benj111 8y ago

You'll find that commuting time has stayed fairly stable, we just travel further now. Poor policies and the car create sprawl, not growth. Visit a city that developed pre car, no sprawl. New York was designed with massively wide streets, space for all the things you cite and didn't suffer from sprawl. "parking space for convenient door-to-door transport slightly increases it." Slightly? I can't think of any shop with dedicated parking where the shop is bigger than the car park. Then think of all the houses with a driveway that you pass on the way to work. Each drive is an extra 8ft of frontage, that's an extra 8ft road to be built, and that you need to drive back and forth every day, and that's just the ones you can see.

azeotropic 8y ago
I find the assertion that NYC didn't sprawl somewhat odd. Weren't all the city's parks on the frontier of the city when Olmstead laid them out? (and, in the process, invented the "parking space") "Slightly? I can't think of any shop with dedicated parking where the shop is bigger than the car park." WalMart? Home Depot? Kroger? IKEA? I can show google maps if desired, but that's definitely not uncommon in the U.S. That extra 8ft of frontage is also extra backyard, which many people enjoy. I don't think people choose to live so far apart because they have cars, they live so far apart because they want to, and the car makes it possible. I suspect many would love to live even further apart if they could.

francisofascii 8y ago

Just look at a map with satellite view of any sprawling area. You will notice a ton of wasted space, mostly due to parking lots, and empty space between the businesses and and the houses. It gets worse you farther you go out from the city center.