[pizza234]

As wrote above, it depends on the culture.

I can tell you for certain that kids and ikea can be handled, and are handled, without the need for a car, where the culture supports it.

Plumbers and tradespeople (and who else) are a small part of the population. That is not representative, especially considering that nobody's talking about banning cars completely.

I don't doubt that in a city without good public transport and bike support the activies above are practically impossible.

Ultimately, it depends on the direction a given culture wants to point to.

sure you can rent a car but then you are talking £££

Owning a car costs, and not little. So very general statement like this don't make much sense.

[ekianjo]

indeed a car costs money so you can be sure that when most people have one it means they really need it and that its not for show.