> One of the biggest problems with North American cities is their endless, car-centric suburban sprawl.

Most people consider that a benefit. It's just as livable as anywhere else. Just different.

vineyardmike 19 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> It's just as livable as anywhere else

People are totally entitled to like what they like, and that's OK. Everyone has something that works for them, and this world has a great variety of options available but the "car-centric suburban sprawl" is linked to various negative mental and physical health consequences. Negative health consequences, IMO, isn't "just as livable".

As a simple example, when people walk more during commuting instead of drive, they tend to be healthier. There are other more nuance (but studied) impacts, such as increased car accidents, mental impacts from increased isolation, etc. In America, there is even a correlation between how car-centric a community is and how often individuals are willing to seek out healthcare (even when accounting for access and affordability).

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prmoustache 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If you like living and spending all your day in your car yes.

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jmye 7 hours ago | parent [-]

I don't spend anything close to "all my day" in a car - I'm not sure what the absolutely over-the-top and completely-detached-from-reality, snide hyperbole adds, here.

	▲	prmoustache 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Well that is certainly how it feels when I am in a city in north america. A small errand that takes me 5 to 10min in my hometown takes me 45min to 2h in suburbialand. Worse, mutualizing errands do not even reduce the overhead of a single trip because infrastructure is usually made in such a car centric way that it makes it super inconvenient if not downright dangerous to walk from one huge parking lot to another one a couple of blocks away so you are kind of pushed to move your car, sometimes navigate a stupidly long loop to simply turn around and go on the other side of a stroad. By the end of the day you realize you have barely done anything. Funnily it makes it worse for both drivers and non drivers. At home I usually opt to not take the car, not because it would be slow but because in many cases it is silly. It would be too short for the engine to even warmup and I would not have the chance to enjoy some time outside and/or exercise at the same time. I totally see the impact spending so much time in the car and traffic has on my in law family's stress level and they do complain a lot about it while being seemingly unable to envision a better way of living and push for it at political level. It is also super bad on the security side of things because they often opt to take/make calls while driving for it to not make it time totally lost and aren't just as focused as they should be on the road.

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account42 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah it's strange how some people think that squeezing people like sardines without any space for personal gardens is supposed to be a good thing. Density in European cities is mostly a historical artifact and something objectively chosen.

	▲	matsemann 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Huh, wonder what takes up all the space that could've been parks and gardens (hint: it's made of asphalt)