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Comment by jbdoug | Hacker News Reader

Well we spend the last 60 years reengineering all our cities to be car-centric, so who's to say we can't undo that? Most of the top 100 US cities existed before cars, we just hollowed out all the urban cores in service of having ample street parking.

I currently live in Ann Arbor, MI (the 244th largest city in the US) without a car. If they built a Trader Joes downtown I would have 0 issues being car free. The city has built a number of fully protected bike lanes downtown that I hope get expanded further into the greater community, and seems to be doing a good job of making the downtown denser as well. It certainly can be done.

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> Well we spend the last 60 years reengineering all our cities to be car-centric,

We engineered them to be human centric. It's just that the humans had easy and reliable access to affordable cars and fuel. So, naturally, the market did what it does. When you say it's car centric you intentionally ignore any benefits or efficiencies that were created in that decision and equally imply that it was a top down decision.

> I currently live in Ann Arbor, MI (the 244th largest city in the US) without a car.

Do you own or rent? Are you a college student or a resident?

> If they built a Trader Joes downtown

Why do you suppose they haven't? Should the government compel them? Why them and not some other chain? What if two chains want to compete for that footprint?

> number of fully protected bike lanes downtown

Do you bike in the winter?

> and seems to be doing a good job of making the downtown denser as well.

The population of Ann Arbor has been steadily increasing for the past 80 years. The last 20 years have shown no change in that steady rate. Any recent changes are very unlikely to account for the very slight continual trend.

Highways (and resulting sprawl) aren't the result of free market economics -- they are a policy decision.

https://www.ibisworld.com/us/bed/government-funding-for-high...

You're just adding another layer of abstraction. Where does policy come from? It doesn't fall from the sky like some sort of cargo cult delivery. Further, your own link highlights what I'm saying here very clearly:

"Higher funding has been made possible by burgeoning state tax receipts as aggregate incomes, spending, populations and tax rates have trended upwards. However, this close link with tax receipts has made highway funding growth responsive to economic conditions and unemployment."

So.. higher incomes, more populations, more tax receipts. Specifically, highways are a function of _human demand_. There isn't some grand conspiracy to build roads just to make a handful of companies in Michigan happy.

> I currently live in Ann Arbor, MI (the 244th largest city in the US) without a car. If they built a Trader Joes downtown I would have 0 issues being car free.

I live in a very very very similarly sized city in OH and I feel exactly the same way (down to the trader joes even). I do have a car and I often wish I didn't need it. My city is small enough that not only is a 15 minute city a feasible option, it could be a reality today with a couple small infrastructure changes.

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