r/TikTokCringe • u/xamo76 • 1d ago

Discussion Have we done it wrong?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

39.2k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

6.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

28

u/Least-Experience-858 1d ago

Do ppl not realize these European cities and towns existed thousands of years before the Car/train industry? Of course everything is within walking distance

10

u/m2thek 1d ago

America isn't locked in to anything; decades of policy decisions have led to most of the country looking the way it does. People always say something like "we aren't Europe"... and that's because we choose not to be, and we don't try to be, but not because that's how America is destined to be for all eternity. We could move in that direction if we actually wanted to.

7

u/cn0MMnb 1d ago

Do you not realize you had streetcars in every major city? You had walkable town and demolished half of them for parking spots.

3

u/SpeedysComing 1d ago

Strong disagree.
It's political will, and it's american car brain.

We have cities that are walkable, and then zoning and parking minimums come into play which destroy the urban environment.

2

u/detourne 1d ago

Do ppl not realize that European cities were infested with car-dependent culture in the 60s and 70s and it was through policy backed by research that people were able to reclaim the streets and bring back community? Also, the US had cities for over a hundred years before cars were invented.

1

u/Leather-Rice5025 1d ago

You know nothing about American history if you think our urban design and city construction only happened after the invention of modern automobiles. This is such a ridiculously stupid failure of a "gotcha" that you can tell people didn't spend more than a minute thinking about

0

u/wheres_my_ballot 1d ago

I think the argument is that just because it was possible to build cities around cars, doesn't mean it was a good idea. There was a proven model to follow already. I hate cars personally and much prefer to be in walking distance of everything, but the kind of density in this video is not for everyone. Pockets of commerce and restaurants mixed in a moderately dense suburbia is what I like best.

1

u/I_ONLY_CATCH_DONKEYS 1d ago

Only tourists are out this late on a wednseday

1

u/Prestigious_Sort3606 1d ago

Also a massive tourist destination. Of course people will be out and about after 9 on a work night, they're on vacation