Orson Scott Card has a comprehensive proposal for weaning America off of the automobile. He correctly points out that we currently subsidise cars and big-box retailers to a remarkable extent and that we penalise pleasant neighbourhoods. I don’t agree with all of his suggestions (I’d rather get rid of all regulations than replace anti-neighbourhood ones with pro-neighbourhood ones), but they are not a bad start at all.
If we simply start building nice, mixed-use (retail & residential), mixed-income neighbourhoods composed of a higher-speed commercial street, then some streets of houses and on the periphery a few apartment buildings; if we’d allow commercial streets to have garrets and other residences; if we’d quit mandating huge parking lots (thereby wasting space and forcing driving); if we’d instead build sidewalks oriented towards pedestrians: if we did those things, we’d have a safer, healthier, more pleasant America.
