The difference is European cities were established long before cars were a thing, so it's going to be a lot easier for them to go back to that model. American cities were all built around cars being the fundamental mode of transportation.
The small, touristy, beautiful medieval cores of many famous European cities are like this.
The vast oceans of newer construction surrounding this core were made in just as much of a car-centric way as in the U.S.
Here is the touristy area of Prague:
https://www.google.com/maps/@50.0841727,14.4275766,3a,75y,13...
Here is what a normal street in Prague looks like, outside the tourist area: https://www.google.com/maps/@50.0563622,14.5390901,3a,75y,56...
Here is a touristy part of Rome:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9058174,12.4832519,3a,75y,32...
Normal street in Rome:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.915433,12.5445313,3a,75y,189...
Just look at pictures of Amsterdam in the 1970s [1], long before it became such a bike centric city. It is perfectly possible to do that in other European cities as well as American, especially given the increasing support for such measures.
[1] https://twitter.com/radentscheid_s/status/104577226157429964...