> Sure, if you have a walkable/transitable/bikeable city. If you don't, then losing parking spaces can be an issue. But a huge part of what makes cities terrib

> Sure, if you have a walkable/transitable/bikeable city. If you don't, then losing parking spaces can be an issue. But a huge part of what makes cities terrible for walking/biking/transit is having too much parking. Shop entrances being right next to the sidewalk is ENORMOUSLY more pleasant for pedestrians compared to needing to walk across a veritable sea of asphalt, as is the case in typical American strip malls and similar developments. > I would have to walk for 24 Google Maps minutes to get to the nearest store of any kind. Probably a zoning/density issue. We've intentionally designed our cities to be shit for walking and to our credit we've succeeded enormously. > Five minutes into it, she said, "Now I know why everyone is fat here. This is miserable." And my reply was "Yes, and this isn't as hot or as humid as it gets. It's actually not that bad today." Nope, that's not it at all. The American South has a somewhat similar climate to Japan, and even the warmer parts of Japan have way skinnier people. I lived in Alabama for a couple years, and I'd say it's mostly just transportation design and culture around eating. I biked a bunch in Alabama and it was fucking terrible. That shit sucked. Granted, biking almost anywhere in the US is pretty bad, but Alabama was definitely worse than some of the other places I lived, and infrastructure was the biggest part of that.