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I will repeat a comment that I have made on HN before: 50% of the US population live in just 35 metropolitan areas (Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; Chicago, IL;

I will repeat a comment that I have made on HN before: 50% of the US population live in just 35 metropolitan areas (Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; Chicago, IL; Philadelphia, PA; Washington, DC; Detroit, MI; Houston, TX; Atlanta, GA; Dallas, TX; Boston, MA; San Bernardino, CA; Phoenix, AZ; Minneapolis, MN; Orange County, CA; San Diego, CA; Nassau, NY; St. Louis, IL; Baltimore, MD; Seattle, WA; Tampa, FL; Oakland, CA; Pittsburgh, PA; Miami, FL; Cleveland, OH; Denver, CO; Newark, NJ; Portland, OR; Kansas City, MO; San Francisco, CA; Fort Worth, TX; San Jose, CA; Cincinnati, OH; Orlando, FL; Sacramento, CA; Fort Lauderdale, FL) that together have 173328 square miles. That is a density of 654 inhabitants per square mile or 253 inhabitants per square kilometer. Compare that with the 232 inhabitants per square kilometer in Germany, or the 118 inhabitants per square kilometer in France. And yes you can live without a car even in rural Germany (at least if you don't have kids). The 20 densest metropolitan areas contain 25% of the US population and have 400 inhabitants per square kilometer, comparable to the 416 inhabitants per square kilometer averaged over the Netherlands. The lack of public transport in the US is not a density problem. That is just the excuse because people don't want to change. And before anybody says "but the density in German cities is much higher": I lived for years in a German district with a density of 217 inhabitants per square kilometer, without needing a car.

bradlys 7y ago
"Without needing a car" is pretty vague. There are many people in the USA who live all over who don't own a car. I lived in a small town of 4,500 people without a car too. Same for a 20,000 person one. Same for a 160,000 one. Same for a 600,000+. I've done it in multiple 1+ million cities too. It doesn't mean your quality of life is the same as it would be with a car. Regardless - I don't think comparing Germany to the USA with population density is going to work. A lot of Germany is clustered with high density. You can put a million people in 1 square mile, leave 999 square miles empty and it'll have the same population density as any other 1000 square mile 1000/mi region. Sprawl is the issue with the USA. That 600 habits per square mile goes out forever whereas in Germany it has a tendency to fall off exponentially. If you go to places like Norway then you'll notice they won't even let people build outside their city proper. Once you get outside Oslo, it turns completely green and there's just road and rail. Almost no houses until you get to small dense towns. In comparison to the USA where the houses go on and on and on and on and on and on. The lots just get bigger and bigger whereas the homes in these other countries tend to stay the same size and so does the property.

bradlys 7y ago

"Without needing a car" is pretty vague. There are many people in the USA who live all over who don't own a car. I lived in a small town of 4,500 people without a car too. Same for a 20,000 person one. Same for a 160,000 one. Same for a 600,000+. I've done it in multiple 1+ million cities too. It doesn't mean your quality of life is the same as it would be with a car. Regardless - I don't think comparing Germany to the USA with population density is going to work. A lot of Germany is clustered with high density. You can put a million people in 1 square mile, leave 999 square miles empty and it'll have the same population density as any other 1000 square mile 1000/mi region. Sprawl is the issue with the USA. That 600 habits per square mile goes out forever whereas in Germany it has a tendency to fall off exponentially. If you go to places like Norway then you'll notice they won't even let people build outside their city proper. Once you get outside Oslo, it turns completely green and there's just road and rail. Almost no houses until you get to small dense towns. In comparison to the USA where the houses go on and on and on and on and on and on. The lots just get bigger and bigger whereas the homes in these other countries tend to stay the same size and so does the property.