[s-cars] Thought-provoking stuff.......NAC, but all Car stuff.

[Taka Mizutani]

Good discussion.

One thing that I see in the Northeast and suburbs is that there is too
little population density, even in places like north Jersey, which is pretty
much totally developed. Look at the really old towns around there and there
are distinct town centers with a lot of old Victorians clustered fairly
close together and within easy walking distance of the center of town, where
there is a train station. If people lived in that kind of population density
throughout, mass transit would be feasible.

Where I live now, it's too spread out- a lot of "towns" have no town center
at all, it's more of just a district with a name. Everything is miles and
miles away, can't easily walk there and there are no sidewalks or pedestrian
paths by the main roads.

Unless people fundamentally change their ideas on prosperity and lifestyle,
it's not going to happen any time soon- around here, having the big house on
the big lot is a big deal. Everyone wants that, so developments become
really spread out over acres and acres of land, which is only possible when
you move far away from a town center. Thus, the suburban sprawl that is so
prevalent across the US. It's really only in the downtown area of a major
city where mass transit is useful- Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, D.C.

Until that changes, our dependence on foreign oil is probably going to
result in the eventual decline of the US as a major power in the world.

Taka