[rayiner]

It’s not just “us” who built cities to maximize car travel. Everyone did it. Walkable european cities are surrounded by car-dependent suburbs.

The problem with your analysis is that your concept of “useful” is based on a set of priorities in your head that’s almost certainly not shared by the people who prefer to live in car-optimized areas. Cars let you travel in private, on your own schedule, without having to interact with other people. You might not value those things. Lots of people do.

[stuaxo]

I'm not convinced that suburbs outside the US are quite as hard to walk in as in the US.

Just about every UK suburb is walkable to train station a supermarket some smaller shops and probably a pub somewhere.

I the US the sidewalk just ends and walking can be quite dangerous in places.