[jmyeet]

Take that to its logical conclusion: the key problems are car-dependence and, well, capitalism.

We completeely design our cities around cars. Just the act of walking 30 minutes a day makes a huge difference. If you can get that just going about your day, then it's kind of built into your life, almost "free". But walking (like every other form of exercise) has to be an intentional activity in a car-centric city.

Car-dependence didn't just happen. It was intentional and relates heavily to economic segregation.

So what about capitalism? Well, leisure time, from the perpsective of capitalism, is lost revenue. Where once you needed 1 full time job, now you need 2 plus 3 "side gigs". Housing costs, student loans, education costs, your cars and student loan debt are all designed to keep you working, creating wealth for someone else.

[lrog]

> We completeely design our cities around cars. Just the act of walking 30 minutes a day makes a huge differenc.

+1. Car-centric design stands 99.9% for US. In contrast, many cities in EU have grown organically over decades both with walkability, accessibility in mind and quite decent public transport. With business offices often still being pretty centric.

I've been moving around EU, working in different big cities and had a luck of renting flats within walkable 30-45 mins from the workplaces / client offices. If the weather sucks, I can count on public transport. It's always a bit of extra budget stretch to rent something more centric, but it's really worth it imho.

A morning walk to the workplace, while grabbing a coffee / breakfast on the way or a walk back home while disconnecting from the virtual world is a routine that can highly recommend. It gives also more motivation for either passing by the office or marking the work/leisure boundary when working in hybrid/remote mode. No need to live in a constant hustle mode.

[Gigachad]

Moving inner city and getting rid of my car changed my life. I walk every day now, lost the excess weight and live a lower stress life.

It’s hard to overstate how poisonous cars are to your physical and mental health.

[blackeyeblitzar]

Cars are great for mental health. They let people access a lot more things in less time. And plenty of people drive cars who are in fine physical and mental health.

[Gigachad]

They don’t actually allow you to access more things in less time. They reshape cities to spread things further out so you spend the same time accessing the same things, but you get there by sitting in traffic rather than walking or riding a bike.

When I used to live in the suburbs it would take me 15 minutes to drive to the supermarket. Now I can walk there in 5 minutes. Walking is faster and healthier than driving.

[ConspiracyFact]

>They don’t actually allow you to access more things in less time. They reshape cities to spread things further out so you spend the same time accessing the same things, but you get there by sitting in traffic rather than walking or riding a bike

You're equivocating. In some vague, general sense, over a long period of time, cars might make it harder to access things. For any given person at any given moment, having a car gives greater access to more things in less time.

[tsimionescu]

Cars don't reshape cities, people do. It's a deliberate choice, and there are plenty of cities around the world that have not gone anywhere near to the extremes that American cities have.

[hilux]

"Plenty" may be in good health, but since the median person in the US is NOT in fine physical health, we can confidently say that "most" (by far) people who drive cars are not in fine health, and the situation is trending worse, much worse.

[pjc50]

We should probably put "car commuting" in there.