this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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It’s time for Americans to embrace small cars (arstechnica.com)
submitted 1 year ago by boem to c/technology
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[–] NuanceDemon 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Unfortunately it's zoning that caused most of this issue. Not size. Dense residential was disallowed for not entirely un-racist reasons, so it spread out enormously instead. On top of car companies lobbying in various ways to make cars essential.

[–] FlyingSquid 8 points 1 year ago

Suburban sprawl is also an issue. It takes 20 minutes or more just to walk out of my massive subdivision. It takes 3 or 4 minutes to drive out of the subdivision. And we're out of city limits, so no bus. It sucks. The only thing that I can say for it is that it's very safe in terms of crime.

[–] RaoulDook 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

People also spread out because they could - most people would prefer to have a house with land rather than live in a tiny apt

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Suburbs are subsidized by urban areas. Zoning in North America means medium and high density can only be built in limited locations, meaning demand often outstrips supply, increasing the price. The decision of "house with land" vs "tiny apt" isn't a direct comparison and price influences people's decisions. If these perverse incentives weren't in place, more people would consider living in higher density areas with more amenities vs having lots of land and being far away from everything.