In most American cities that aren't New York or San Francisco, half the downtown has been torn down to build parking lots: http://usa.streetsblog.org/category/s

In most American cities that aren't New York or San Francisco, half the downtown has been torn down to build parking lots: http://usa.streetsblog.org/category/special-reports/parking-madness-2015/ http://usa.streetsblog.org/category/special-reports/parking-... And, of course, most post-WWII commercial development is either malls, strip malls, or big boxes.