How the Car Keeps Americans Apart
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How the Car Keeps Americans Apart
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Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart
#2I feel bad if my comment ends up being the first one, because I'm coming to suggest a book that I immediately thought of as I got halfway through the article. If you want to read about human society and how much of it we're missing, read The Great Good Place, by Ray Oldenburg. (I believe it came out in the late 1980's.) There is a chapter on suburbia, and what an awful mess that has made of human sociability, particularly because you have to get in your car to go anywhere.
It's one of those books that lots of people have read, but many more people have heard of and mean to get around to reading. It's very good and very thought-provoking. I read it more or less when it came out, and it has stayed with me ever since. (I did re-read it about 10 years ago.)
With respect to the article, the automobile is one of those things that has changed society so thoroughly—and which seemed like such a great idea at the time—that most people can't even imagine the impact or what they've lost. We just take it for granted.
Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart
#3I feel bad if my comment ends up being the first one, because I'm coming to suggest a book that I immediately thought of as I got halfway through the article. If you want to read about human society and how much of it we're missing, read The Great Good Place, by Ray Oldenburg. (I believe it came out in the late 1980's.) There is a chapter on suburbia, and what an awful mess that has made of human sociability, particu…
I hope the first HN comment is always a book suggestion. :)
I recently got rid of my car after four years of living in a city. I don't know why I held onto it for so long, but my life has improved dramatically. Not only can I go anywhere I want, but I never have to worry about permits, tickets, or parking.
This lifestyle can't work for people outside of cities, though. There's no way to get anyplace without a car, and there isn't enough density to make uber very effective. No one wants to wait a half hour for a ride.
Being in a city has downsides, but for this reason it's wonderful. There's even an app now where you can just use someone else's car. (Getaround, I think?) I've used it twice: one when I needed to go buy something about 20 miles away, and another to go on a trip a hundred miles away. And the price was very low.
Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart
#4Anecdotally, I always loved having a car and the sense of independence and freedom that came with it. Then at the age of 25, I moved out of the country to a small, walkable town in Latin America where I either walked, drove my scooter, or took motorcycle taxis everywhere. After two years of living there, I moved back to the US, bought a Jeep, and was super excited to have the autonomy and ability to travel between cities easily in a day. I didn't have a commute at the time, so I never really had to drive in traffic. A year later, I ditched my car again and spent a whole year traveling around the world. I got around by walking and taking trains and taxis. By the time I got back to the US, I hated driving. It felt so isolating and boring. Then I got a job where I had to commute for an hour and a half a day in heavy traffic. It was one of the most miserable periods of my life. I started resenting having to drive anywhere. I started resenting places that weren't walkable. I started resenting how roads designed for cars break up and eliminate public space. Finally, two months ago I sold my car and committed to a car-free lifestyle, probably for life. It's completely changed how I do things; I spend more time out of the house, I spend more time socializing, and of course, I walk more. I went from walking less than a mile a day to walking an average of five miles a day. I'm much happier with this lifestyle, and I hope I'm never forced to go back.
Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart
#5For one, the geography of car use tracks with income and wealth: Car-dependent places are considerably less affluent. Metros in which a higher share of people depend on their cars to get to work are poorer, and those where more people use transit or bike or walk to work are considerably more affluent.
I always hated driving. I gave up my car more than a decade ago. I am happy to see stats like this.
In spite of how sprawling the US is, I think it is a myth that we have no choice but to build a car-centric America, a myth that serves as self-fulfilling prophecy. And I hate hearing it.
Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart
#6For one, the geography of car use tracks with income and wealth: Car-dependent places are considerably less affluent. Metros in which a higher share of people depend on their cars to get to work are poorer, and those where more people use transit or bike or walk to work are considerably more affluent. I always hated driving. I gave up my car more than a decade ago. I am happy to see stats like this. In spite of how s…
Until 1940 or so, the United States was relatively friendly to non-car transport--just look at the older sections of most towns and cities.
Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart
#7For one, the geography of car use tracks with income and wealth: Car-dependent places are considerably less affluent. Metros in which a higher share of people depend on their cars to get to work are poorer, and those where more people use transit or bike or walk to work are considerably more affluent. I always hated driving. I gave up my car more than a decade ago. I am happy to see stats like this. In spite of how s…
Until 1940 or so, the United States was relatively friendly to non-car transport--just look at the older sections of most towns and cities.
Exactly. That's part of why I don't buy the argument that we have no choice.
Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart
#8Those who are able to afford to live in affluent areas have high income jobs and can purchase the land surrounding their workplace, enabling non motorized conveyance or transit. The low and middle class, are forced out of the area, however these middle to low income jobs still exist and they need to be accomplished; think how far out a janitor is pushed away from a high income residence area before they can afford a place.
An example of this is San Francisco's suburb expansion with the streetcar's development. As the streetcar line expanded, the lower income folks could afford better residences as opposed to having to live in a walking distance to their job, which drove up costs as individuals competed for residences.
The automobile enabled individuals to find affordable residences and provided middle income and lower income individuals the power to find jobs not within walkable distance of a residence or rail line. The automobile has been a net good for society, especially the low income or middle class.
Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart
#9For one, the geography of car use tracks with income and wealth: Car-dependent places are considerably less affluent. Metros in which a higher share of people depend on their cars to get to work are poorer, and those where more people use transit or bike or walk to work are considerably more affluent. I always hated driving. I gave up my car more than a decade ago. I am happy to see stats like this. In spite of how s…
We don't have to build either a car-centric America or a non-car-centric America. We can, if we choose, build an America that has places for people who want cars, and places for people who don't. That was supposed to be a key idea of America--that not everybody has to live the same way.
Re: How the Car Keeps Americans Apart
#10I feel bad if my comment ends up being the first one, because I'm coming to suggest a book that I immediately thought of as I got halfway through the article. If you want to read about human society and how much of it we're missing, read The Great Good Place, by Ray Oldenburg. (I believe it came out in the late 1980's.) There is a chapter on suburbia, and what an awful mess that has made of human sociability, particu…
I hope the first HN comment is always a book suggestion. :) I recently got rid of my car after four years of living in a city. I don't know why I held onto it for so long, but my life has improved dramatically. Not only can I go anywhere I want, but I never have to worry about permits, tickets, or parking. This lifestyle can't work for people outside of cities, though. There's no way to get anyplace without a car, an…
> This lifestyle can't work for people outside of cities, though.
Exactly. Which means that, if cities are designed sanely, they will be more attractive to people who don't want cars (when I lived in a city during college, I never had a car and never missed having one), and suburbs and rural areas will be more attractive to people who do (as I do now since I like having a detached house and an actual yard).