So many comments here about American spread which I agree on but how to fix it? Even in the Bay Area where cars are hated it’s pretty much a requirement at some point. I always had a dream that some commercial developers built tried building some communities where green space and commercial store front was baked in. Essentially building some tasteful strip malls in the center of the community and making sure a grocery store leased part of it.
Then I always realize that it’s actually probably pretty hard to manufacture this. Which grocery store do you get to move in? Do you allow liquor stores or do you just let the market decide what moves in? You have to have some influence by building it and planning it though.
That always leaves me down the road that I think it’s partially a failure at the local government level and how we do zoning. At the same time though I dont think Americans want to live Asian style in massive apartment skyscrapers or in close quarter multistory buildings with store fronts on the first level. It’s as much of a cultural problem as it is zoning.