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>Car centered cities are awful for human beings, we should reclaim some of this space for us. This might sound shocking, but cars are driven by human beings. W

• ianleeclark 6y ago
  A portion of that space is being occupied by a human, but it's not all being used by the human. We both know you know this.
  • dkdk8283 6y ago
    Cars are positive for humans. Dense living conditions like NYC are not sustainable. You burn out. Sometimes you want to get away from all people. Car is essential for this.
    • Symbiote 6y ago
      Perhaps look at a different perspective. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius#Transport https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius#Transport
      • dkdk8283 6y ago
        I lived in NYC for 11 years and I felt trapped. I moved to a rural area and I’m done. Your opinions change as you age.
        • cameronh90 6y ago
          NYC isn't an example of a human-oriented city. The roads are huge, full of loud traffic, and the cars have priority. Constant sirens and horns in Manhattan, and not much better elsewhere. I'm not sure there is an example of a big, dense human-oriented city, but the closest examples (places like Venice, Ghent, Copenhagen) are wonderful places that have a completely different feel to a city like London or NYC. I don't know how much of that is due to the size difference, but in London on the days where the city gets shut to traffic, it feels a much more welcoming, relaxing and pleasant place. The lack of constant car sounds and being able to walk where you want makes a huge difference in livability. It feels closer to when I used to live more rural.
          • dkdk8283 6y ago
            You cite audible concerns which I don’t share. Freedom of movement is my priority now. You don’t get that with shared transport.
            • dublinben 6y ago
              Needing an expensive car to get anywhere is the opposite of "freedom of movement." If you live in a car-dependant place, but are unable to drive for any reason (disability, age, poverty, weather, etc.) then you have no freedom of movement. Cars provide the illusion of freedom, because we've reshaped our society to serve them.
              • dkdk8283 6y ago
                That makes absolutely no sense. I broke my leg and I was disabled for 6 months. Having a car during that period was essential. Having a car is a nice luxury. Public transportation is a pain.
                • cameronh90 6y ago
                  What you find here is that people with broken legs are still regularly walking around using crutches, which is advisable from a health perspective. We do of course have other systems for disabled people to get around if public transport is unsuitable. But you're right in a way. Driving is more pleasant than public transport, but it's completely not scalable as we've seen over the last 50 years. Rural living isn't scalable globally either except in relatively few countries (USA being one) due to the land and infrastructure constraints. The only reason driving a car and living rural seems affordable is you're not paying for the externalities, and are in a sparsely populated country. Most people in the world are going to need to live most of their lives in urban built up areas, and it's right that public policy favours the those people, and that is best achieved by discouraging car use in favour of transit, walking and cycling. If you want to drive a car that's fine, but people who do should pay the costs, and that includes the additional maintenance costs that delivery services should be charged for sending heavy destructive vehicles over rural roads. Kind of like flying first class.
        • a-saleh 6y ago
          I.d.k. around here we have sworn by a good network of buses and trains. If I feel trapped I hop on the train, in an hour change to a bus, and I am in the middle of nowhere.
          • dkdk8283 6y ago
            You still depend on train service etc for transportation. Being self sufficient is freedom.
            • deleted 6y ago
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    • ianleeclark 6y ago
      Take a bike or train. Or both. It's ridiculous the rest of us have to suffer because people don't want to knock knees with others.
      • deleted 6y ago
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