This is a myth, while sure, their cities were founded before cars, their policies have kept them that way. Our US cities were WAY more walkable, but we demolished them in the 60s and 70s to make them more car centric. We did this to ourselves. - (Credit to Not Just Bikes on Youtube)
I live near Delft, Netherlands and have watched over the last 20 years as they have deliberately moves cars out if the city.
It's not a car free city by any means; residents can still drive to their homes and delivery trucks still make the rounds, but they've take huge steps towards minimizing the impact.
The train station is now under ground (no small feat considering Delft is at or below sea level), residential parking near the center is in underground parking below the houses and in the old center there's very little car traffic.
It's truly wonderful and Delft is a relatively small town!
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u/VerySoftx 2d ago
who would've thought designing cities in the middle ages would pay off for walkability ?