I think the new urbanists who otherwise have contributed such good ideas about urban livability have taken a seriously wrong turn with their attitude to cars. I'll stipulate that they're responsible for so much blight in the form of parking lots, gas stations, highways, etc., but there is never any turning back the clock on technology. Just as importantly, I have lived in carless cities, car-essential cities, and several in between, and being able to go shopping and stuff a bunch of things in the back of your car is a fairly essential quality-of-life convenience. Likewise being able to drive to work in your own clean car instead of taking a multi-legged commute with filthy, overcrowded public transportation with multiple line switches in the middle is a such a huge quality-of-life upgrade to anybody who has ever commuted by subway or bus that the only thing I can analogize it to is the feeling of your first healthy day after getting over the flu. Insisting we should just build better rail systems that *aren't* filthy, inconvenient, and overcrowded isn't any more persuasive than suggesting we can just build better road systems that aren't as blighted or dangerous - as long as we're reimagining everything from square one, there's no reason we can't imagine better ways to integrate cars while retaining what we love about the pre-automobile environment. And that seems more likely to lead to positive change people can get on board with than telling them they're going to have to find a way to carry their family groceries or new sofa home on the subway.
I know someone who works at Tesla, and he reckons driverless cars will be the norm within a decade. That might well render this entire debate moot.
I think the new urbanists who otherwise have contributed such good ideas about urban livability have taken a seriously wrong turn with their attitude to cars. I'll stipulate that they're responsible for so much blight in the form of parking lots, gas stations, highways, etc., but there is never any turning back the clock on technology. Just as importantly, I have lived in carless cities, car-essential cities, and several in between, and being able to go shopping and stuff a bunch of things in the back of your car is a fairly essential quality-of-life convenience. Likewise being able to drive to work in your own clean car instead of taking a multi-legged commute with filthy, overcrowded public transportation with multiple line switches in the middle is a such a huge quality-of-life upgrade to anybody who has ever commuted by subway or bus that the only thing I can analogize it to is the feeling of your first healthy day after getting over the flu. Insisting we should just build better rail systems that *aren't* filthy, inconvenient, and overcrowded isn't any more persuasive than suggesting we can just build better road systems that aren't as blighted or dangerous - as long as we're reimagining everything from square one, there's no reason we can't imagine better ways to integrate cars while retaining what we love about the pre-automobile environment. And that seems more likely to lead to positive change people can get on board with than telling them they're going to have to find a way to carry their family groceries or new sofa home on the subway.