[andrewem]

It's pretty difficult to argue that NYC was "designed for cars" in the same way as Houston when much of it was designed in the pre-car era. See for instance Manhattan's street grid designed in the 1800s, and large parts of the other boroughs. It's true that parts were REdesigned for cars to some extent, taking away street space, adding highways, etc.

Source: researching my ancestors' addresses in NYC from 1880 onward and seeing how many of the streets from then still exist now.

(Re biking in NYC, it's great to see the changes.)