What's the solution for unloading your car after a costco trip? How do I load my car for a camping trip? How do I unload lumber for my DIY home improvement projects? This project seems to have a very narrow view of how people live their lives.
I imagine that the idea is that, for example, the lumber store would have a truck to deliver to your house, so that each and every person doesn’t need their own lumber-hauler.
By not having a gigantic costco a car-distance away, but by having smaller stores a bicycle-distance away. Making trips to the store becomes easier and more frequent allowing your shopping to fit in the saddle bags.
Barring that a big cargo bike can easily fit a couple car loads worth of cargo for the last-mile transport.
There are parts of downtown Salem, MA that are like this, specifically Essex St from the east side of Salem Common to Washington St (Summer St if you’re being generous). Newburyport, MA has some similar areas. Both are absolutely delightful places to live and work.
I'm not seeing any information on people are supposed to physically move into their house or how deliveries will be managed. Cities have had roads long before cars were a thing, and they were never that pedestrian friendly.
It depends on the traffic frequency. My father-in-law recalls childhood memories in medium sized town in central Italy in the 50s when kids played soccer in the middle of the main road and just moved the goal when a car or truck had to pass. The road was the main artery for Carrara marble from the quarry to the port. I guess the economy was way smaller then.
They push the scooter and ridesharing options pretty hard, but how is that supposed to be a "real alternative" when all those services are massive VC-cash bonfires?
http://www.carfree.com/ .. looks cool, i think the main problem is what to do about freight / large deliveries
Many highly-walkable cities handle this by allowing freight deliveries in the very early morning, say 3am-6am. This can get a little annoying if it’s a mixed use commercial/residential space, as the residents then have to deal with freight truck backup noises in the wee hours. Fair trade off, I’d say, to live in a highly desirable and human-scale neighborhood.