[tsudounym]

What a hilariously American comment. Nearly all American cities were built by train networks that existed in the 1800s. These train lines were ripped out to make way for car infrastructure in the mid-1900s, which was designed to segregate neighborhoods and give giant profits to GM. Even famously car-centric LA with their massive freeways once had the best public transit in the world.

https://www.segregationbydesign.com/

[rocket_surgeron]

The first things hip urban europeans do when they can afford it is buy an Audi wagon and move to the suburbs.

I worked in Mainz for many years and one of my German coworkers was so happy the day he finally had moved up enough and saved up enough to move out of town. Bought an M5 Wagon and a cute little Haus with a yard and a shed. He was so excited to be able to go to the hardware store to buy garden tools to fill up his shed and furniture that wasn't apartment-sized. He was finally living the American dream.

Name any country, any country WHATSOEVER, ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, with more than 500,000 residents (small pacific island nations don't count lol) and I will find you an America-style suburban neighborhood full of station wagons and SUVs and single-family homes. Europe is easy. I lived in them. South America is easy. Asia is easy. Even Africa experiences this phenomenon.

You don't believe me. I know you don't.

Here's a suburban neighborhood consisting of fenced-in single family homes with manicured lawns and (most likely) a Range Rover in every driveway in Bujumbura, Burundi. The poorest country on earth: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Burundi/@-3.3707605,29.392...

Living somewhere where you can't smell your neighbors is what nearly every single human being who can afford it wants.

I'm an American who has lived in Germany, Nigeria, Kenya, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and Ecuador. They are all connected by the same thread: you got the choice, you get the fuck out of the cities.

The cult of urbanism has brainwashed you.

[tsudounym]

Lol no. All the most desirable suburbs in Japan, South Korea have train access. Who the hell wants to find parking anytime you go to the city for arts and fine dining? Who wants to be at risk for DUIs? Most people in these suburbs cannot afford a driver, thats reserved for the ultra wealthy.

Even in Canada, the most desirable suburbs of Toronto are the "streetcar suburbs". People put a premium on having public transit, because it is easier to get on a train to go enjoy a night out than it is to drive there. If you're a loser that stays home all the time and has no friends, then that's on you.

[kelnos]

I don't think we're talking solely about cities here; suburban and rural areas can never be sustainably and cost-effectively served by public transit, at least not the kind of areas with densities you'll find in the US.

Certainly US cities are very weak on the public transit front, and there's a lot of improvement that can be made there. Even then, though, there are a lot of municipalities in the US that technically are considered "cities" but don't have enough density to make pervasive public transit feasible.

[tsudounym]

Switzerland has villages with only hundreds of people that regularly receive train service. There are states with similar GDP, size and density as Switzerland that do not have any train service.

Sprawling suburbs are a giant scam - the cost of providing urban amenities (power, internet, sewage) to these neighborhoods is much higher than it appears. The lines of pipes and power lines in sprawling burbs cost wayyyy more than it would to maintain a transit oriented development full of townhomes and condos.

[frumper]

The US has counties with larger land areas than the entire country of Switzerland. Also, we largely don't want to live in townhomes and condos.

Update: San Bernardino County is 33% larger than Switzerland with 25% of the population. America is a big place.