Downtown only exists in the first place because roads go there. You know the old saying? All roads lead to Rome. Cities concentrate people and need a lot of resources to be sustainable, and roads are what bring these resources.
Look at what’s needed to bring those resources and people, only those, and you need far less than what American cities have.
For too many Americans, there’s no difference between “that can’t work,” “that can’t work here,” and “we don’t do that.”
This is a blog post of a cycling advocate, from 2019 but still relevant - [0]
Quote:
In 1992, 42% of Dutch households were car-free. By 2016 this had dropped to about a quarter. Car ownership has continued to increase since then. Higher car ownership leads to higher car usage. Almost anyone who can easily afford a car has one and there aren't many people at all who choose to go without if they can afford one: Amongst people of average income, just 12% of households don't have a car and that drops further to just 6% for high income households.
In other words, people choose to own a car if they can afford it, even if they cycle frequently at the same time.
[0] -https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2019/08/the-car-free-m...