[mrcartmeneses]

It’s worth remembering that a lot of car centric design has political roots. For example many of Berlin’s wide roads were built so that Nazi tanks could traverse them. Likewise Paris’s wide streets were built so that cavalry army’s could pass. And a big part of America’s single family home suburb design (which necessitates cars) is born out of a desire keeping white and black people separate (as well as regulatory capture by the auto industry).

My favourite places in the world tend to be much older and basically built at random by the people who lived there, like London’s Soho and Clerkenwell or Barcelona’s old town.

[DiggyJohnson]

Very subjective question I know, but how significant do you think racist intentions are compared to the many other factors? I wasn't under the impression it was one of the top two factors that pushed us towards a car centered built environment.

[shiroiushi]

I think it was an enormous factor. Just google for "white flight". While the rise of the automobile was a big enabler, there were other factors like the real estate industry practicing "redlining" which prevented Black people from moving into the suburbs to follow the white people who were abandoning the inner cities.

If you don't realize just how horribly racist most Americans throughout most of the 20th century, you must not be very old. I still remember how commonplace it was in the 1980s even.