The real reason suburbs were built for cars

There was a plan. And it worked perfectly.

More info and sources at bottom.

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[ronvandereerden]

Ironically the good business design philosophy has created the worst business case as suburbs fail to generate enough taxes while those ramshackle street front businesses do all the heavy lifting.

[JesusChrist-qssx]

One thing I will say - a lot of what can fix the suburbs is just allowing them to change, naturally, over time. One of the biggest things making it so hard for them to change is that, by law, most of these places simply can't. The car is here to stay, yes, but the suburbs don't have to stay frozen in time. Let the people who live in these places change them, as they see fit, shaping their communities in the way they want to see them. I think you'll be surprised just how urban these low density, more car dependent places can become, if we let them.

[kingchucklesii]

I'm a mechanic and racing fanatic, I love cars. But this is infuriating. Cars aren't really good at suburb and city commuting. They are big and annoying and expensive and often dangerous. Cars are better suited for remote and low population rural areas and for immediate response emergency or service vehicles. I live out in the Vermont hills and cars work alright, but the second I get to a town, or God forbid, traffic in Burlington, I just want to park and hop on a trolly or something.

[RobustFilms]

Moved within my city simply so I could walk to coffee, pharmacy, grocery, and produce stores.

The impact on my mental health has been nothing short of stunning. I’m a fan of cars, and depend on them more that I could ever appreciate (shipping, travel, emergency) but it’s the small daily dependencies on a vehicle that really wears me down.

[JohnFromAccounting]

Towns are good for families. People want to live in towns. Suburbs emulates some features of towns while leaving out the mixed use and productive centres. It's essentially the town without the money to keep everything funded. We don't need to tear down all the suburbs, we just need to convert them into towns. The people are there, so lets give them places to work, places to shop, and places to loiter around.

[PsRohrbaugh]

My #1 issue with suburbs are lack of connections between streets. There is a strip mall that is 1/4 mile from me by air. But because of the way the roads are laid out, I have to walk / drive over 2 miles to get there. Unless I cut through people's yards, and climb the 8 foot fence on the outside of the community. It's a problem with an easy solution.

[tadnauseum]

I wish someone would acknowledge that the land upon which suburbs were built wasn't empty waste land. People were there before people arrived from the city. Farmers, ranchers, their families, workers, their little townships with post offices, churches and rail stations. That land grew food. What motivated smaller farmers to stop farming and to sell? The centralization and monopolization of food production. That part never gets brought up in "suburb development" essays. Onto what preexisting space were suburbs built? Why was that land for sale? It wasn't empty nor unused.

[DiannaCarney]

Yeah, I have to drive every morning 1 mile away from my house just to take my dog on a walk, which always feels so silly that I’m driving to go walk. 😭

[bob_the_bomb]

I was once invited to give a class at James Madison University. I was staying in a Best Western and over the weekend I attempted to walk to a nearby mall (less than a mile).

There was no sidewalk so I had to walk on the grass next to the road.

After a few minutes I was pulled over by a police car. Someone had reported somebody ‘acting weird’ (ie walking).

Once the police realised I was a Brit on my way to the shops they let me go on my way

[atreidhd]

Not gonna lie, I was skeptical when I saw the video title, I thought it was gonna be apologetic to auto manufacturers. I'm glad you didn't go down that route and actually did real research and highlighted how it was a systemic issue and not one singular person / group that led to this problem. Excellent video!

Only part I disagree with is how you say this problem will probably never be fixed because it'd be too difficult to rebuild. Cars will never completely go away (nor should they, they have their uses), but difficult is not impossible, and cities continue to be developed and rebuilt every day. It's entirely possible, we just need to organize and build and maintain the pressure on the government until they comply. Like all progress, it will take work, a lot of work, but it's worth it.

[PSingletary]

I always appreciate the kind of context you provide. "Product of its time" isn't a dismissive term, it's the start of an explanation.
When you do urbanist content, you ever collaborate with Climate Town?

[onemorechris]

i think you highlighted why, as a european, much of the planning in America i’ve seen feels a little off (more parking and shops, strip malls, interstates etc); it’s because it’s all top-down ideas from the 1940s. it’s what a couple of people born in the 19th century thought the 20th century should be like.

[Killerbear]

i'm from germany and i feel so sad for you guys over in the states. i'm 36 years old and never owned a car cause i can walk or bike everywhere i need to.

[cancerino]

Basically, they took into account the cost of building, but not of maintenance. Suburbia is much more expensive to maintain vs the taxes it produces than walkable spaces.

[Janokins]

I think one step in fixing this is to change the zoning of suburban neighbourhoods, maybe some people would like to set up a little corner shop there, or a cafe, and the people living there wouldn't have to drive.

[lvrncfm]

As a European it feels weird seeing the car and walking icon without a commuter train icon, tram icon, metro icon, bus icon, light rail icon etc next to them

[sypherlynx]

Urbanist content is always appreciated :)

[BobFrTube]

I was recently visiting a house in a cul de sac and noticed it was near the trolley station. It was a long walk by the roads and commented on it a resident who told me there was a short walkway a few houses down between the houses. Adding a few walk-through easements might do wonders.

[BOABModels]

It's interesting to compare to the UK - Birmingham and Coventry, two of the largest car building cities in the country, were rebuilt to be much more car friendly after being heavily bombed during the Second World War.
However, as congestion increased and there was better understanding of pollution, both city centres are being made more pedestrian friendly. Hell, Birmingham even has trams again for the first time since the '50s!

[rocksnot]

God I hate those curving, no outlet suburban streets. A nightmare for emergency services too.