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>So if you read my comments you’ll know that I really can’t stand the automobile culture on America. Just want to get that out of the way. disclaimer : i've en

by serf 5y ago

>So if you read my comments you’ll know that I really can’t stand the automobile culture on America. Just want to get that out of the way. disclaimer : i've enjoyed 'automobile culture' my entire life, and have touched nearly everything that it has to offer. the 'automobile culture on America' , at least applied to the United States specifically, is absolutely compatible with a better managed use of public places; I'm not sure why you framed your comment in such a way as to hint at an incompatibility between the two concepts : automobile culture and citizen-centric management of public spaces and infrastructure. The two are absolutely compatible. I'm not saying that there aren't problems that are caused just-about-entirely by the automobile culture, but improper use of already-inhabited suburban sprawl isn't one of the major ones unless you want to paint all of 'suburbia' to be a 'Bad Thing' and condemn automobile culture simply due to the enablement of commutes and suburban enclaves to exist.

ericmay 5y ago
I'm thinking back to the GP that I replied to and my comment was basically not trying to defend the suburbs (it would be very hard to defend continuing construction of them), but also we can see some nice things about them. At least that was my drift. I'd agree that automobile culture does't cause people to not plant gardens (although maybe it does since why do that when you can just drive to the grocery store?) if that's where you were going. Suburbia isn't the best form of development (we already know what that is) but automobile culture just makes it a monster. It'd be one thing if you could ride a bike from the suburbs to the grocery store and back. But even a mile away is just out of the question for most people. So instead we build giant highways, spend money on highway job construction programs, and tolerate lots of money being spent on cars that become a necessary prosthetic to live life in much of the United States. Not to mention all of the unnecessary deaths, particularly teenagers, caused by car wrecks.

by serf 5y ago

ericmay 5y ago

I'm thinking back to the GP that I replied to and my comment was basically not trying to defend the suburbs (it would be very hard to defend continuing construction of them), but also we can see some nice things about them. At least that was my drift. I'd agree that automobile culture does't cause people to not plant gardens (although maybe it does since why do that when you can just drive to the grocery store?) if that's where you were going. Suburbia isn't the best form of development (we already know what that is) but automobile culture just makes it a monster. It'd be one thing if you could ride a bike from the suburbs to the grocery store and back. But even a mile away is just out of the question for most people. So instead we build giant highways, spend money on highway job construction programs, and tolerate lots of money being spent on cars that become a necessary prosthetic to live life in much of the United States. Not to mention all of the unnecessary deaths, particularly teenagers, caused by car wrecks.