• Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.worldOPM
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    ·
    1 year ago

    Biggest thing this community is against is car dependency. Cities should not be designed around cars as default, to the exclusion of everything and everyone else. It actually benefits car people, as I’m pretty sure you don’t want people like me – someone who sucks at and hates driving – clogging up the roads.

    There’s this observation – the Downs-Thomson Paradox – that notes that the main thing reduces average traffic is not building more car infrastructure; it’s making better and faster alternatives to cars. When things are built more densely and walkable, when public transit is fast and convenient, you see traffic drop precipitously, as most people just want the fastest, most convenient option for getting places.

    That said, I think most in this community don’t really like cars clogging up city streets, due to the simple fact that they are loud, dangerous, and polluting. My ideal city would have park-and-ride at the city limits, then electric microcars (more like glorified golf carts) in the city for those use cases that still need cars, like first responders, physically handicapped people who can’t walk/bike, etc. Rural areas would obviously still need cars, but even they could probably benefit from having better transit access.

    Personally, I and most people in this community don’t view you as the enemy so long as you’re not an asshole driver. We view the systemic disinvestment in public transit and car-centric urban design as the primary enemies. After all, how can one blame someone who is just trying to live their life in a broken system? Hate the game, not the player!