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> Cars and car owners have had completely unchecked rights in American cities for decades. That's like saying fish have unchecked rights in the fishtank. Ameri
by amflare 7y ago
> Cars and car owners have had completely unchecked rights in American cities for decades.
That's like saying fish have unchecked rights in the fishtank. American cities have been built around the automobile, so of course the automobile will have an elevated level of importance. It would be absurd to think anything else. I appreciate people want alternatives, and more power to them, but until cities are organized so that an individual's living radius is miles rather than 10s of miles, the automobile will continue to be king. And rightly so.
- mandelbrotwurst 7y agoYou can't have that reorganization without this type of change.
- gumby 7y agoCities more than 100 years old weee not built around cars. Streets were used quite differently back then and are again in cities with “no car” zones. And the “10s of miles” issue can change back; the car was the forcing function for that, not the other way around.
- gowld 7y agoThe US population is 3x as large as it was in 1920. France is 1.5x. Most Americans don't live in places designed before cars. Even the old megalopolis NYC was redesigned for cars over 50 years ago. (Robert Moses)
- gumby 7y agoWell the inverse was true 100 years ago. It's not implausible that someone could make a similar statement a century from now: "The US population is 3x as large as it was in 2020. France is 1.5x. Most Americans don't live in places designed for cars. "Even the old megalopolis NYC was redesigned away from cars over 50 years ago. (Moses Roberts)"
- jeromegv 7y ago"until cities are organized so that an individual's living radius is miles rather than 10s of miles", this is exactly what San Francisco is doing. You can't ask for that and then oppose yourself to the transformation of Market Street at the same time.
- lacker 7y agoSan Francisco seems like it is going the opposite way. As it gets more expensive people are forced into longer and longer commutes.
- baddox 7y agoI’ve lived in San Francisco for 9 years without a car. So it’s already possible, and there are likely many thousands of people doing it.
- sundaeofshock 7y agoI’ve been car free in SF for 40 years. About 31% of households are car free. https://www.governing.com/gov-data/car-ownership-numbers-of-vehicles-by-city-map.html https://www.governing.com/gov-data/car-ownership-numbers-of-...
- bogomipz 7y ago>"American cities have been built around the automobile, so of course the automobile will have an elevated level of importance. It would be absurd to think anything else." Car ownership only reached a critical mass in the 1920s with the arrival of the Henry Ford's Model T. Obviously well after American cities were laid out. American cities were laid out when the dominant form of transportation was the horse and the dominant commerce feature was likely a port. It would be more absurd to overlook these facts.
- gowld 7y agoMost US cities were built or redesigned after 1920 and the personal car.
- bogomipz 7y agoYeah that's not true at all. By 1920 more American were living in cities than rural areas. Please read up on the Industrial boom that took place in the late 19th century in the US. Massive urbanization took place in the 50 year period from 1870 to 1920. This is historical fact. So no, most US cities were not "built or redesigned after 1920."