Driving is an enforced preference. The modern American city is designed to favor cars and make other ways of getting around suck. That’s been true for at least six decades, but today our limited ability to imagine different shapes for cities is causing environmental collapse. It’s time to hit the brakes. Want to cut carbon? Get people to drive less. But to do it, we’ll need different kinds of cities.
Build Cities for Bikes, Buses, and Feet—Not Cars | WIRED
I live in the City of Atlanta where biking is much easier than the sprawling metro area. We’re (slowly) building out a dedicated bike path around the city center, and (slowly) building bike lanes around the city.
But it’s also more than bikes. The bus should be a super-fast option around the city. But it still has to sit in the same traffic as every other car. Bus / bike lanes can improve traffic speeds for everyone AND make walking a more pleasant experience.
The WIRED article above lays out an amazing case for returning to the way city streets were before 1920 – public rights of way with multiple shared uses. Americans may love cars – but it’s not a true choice. It’s a forced choice, and we choose to look at the good side of the choice rather than the downsides and never truly consider what a better world might be like.
