>Redesigning our cities around cars was one of the big mistakes of the 20th century.
Cities have been designed around Carriages for millenia. You can go and walk in Pompeii and observe pavements for pedestrians, roads for wheeled carriages with crossing spots of elevated stones for pedestrians.
It turns out that cities require a lot of goods to be moved through - more than a pedestrian can carry, and over inclines that human muscle power doesn't like.
The reason why cities are designed around cars is that cars were designed to fit in contemporary cities and they co-evolved over the 20th century. It was the slow kind of evolution, with each step being easier and cheaper than the big redesign.
> The reason why cities are designed around cars is that cars were designed to fit in contemporary cities and they co-evolved over the 20th century
No, the switch to car-centric infrastructure was a deliberate policy choice lobbied for by the automotive industry. [1] We ripped up a lot of good transit to lay down roads this wide and fast.
> It turns out that cities require a lot of goods to be moved through - more than a pedestrian can carry, and over inclines that human muscle power doesn't like.
Hence the utility of public transit, which kills substantially fewer people and is much cheaper. Though goods are mostly moved with trucks, and trucks aren't my concern. Urban congestion isn't caused by 18-wheelers.
Cities have been designed around Carriages for millenia. You can go and walk in Pompeii and observe pavements for pedestrians, roads for wheeled carriages with crossing spots of elevated stones for pedestrians.
It turns out that cities require a lot of goods to be moved through - more than a pedestrian can carry, and over inclines that human muscle power doesn't like.
The reason why cities are designed around cars is that cars were designed to fit in contemporary cities and they co-evolved over the 20th century. It was the slow kind of evolution, with each step being easier and cheaper than the big redesign.