[chrissyb]

Walter Burley Griffin did this - it's Australia's capital city Canberra.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Burley_Griffin

These turn of the century architects lived at the birth of the affordable motor vehicle. To them the motor car was no doubt a symbol of the future and of marvelous connection with the world around them not unlike how I feel about the way I have seen the internet grow in my lifetime.

Canberra today - whilst still a beautiful city is too big for itself even with only a 0.5mil populous. The city is now too large in area and choked with congestion relying on buses as the only form of public transport. There is no longer anyway the city could feasibly afford to install any supplementary public transport like light rail.

The idea of a a dispersed city is idealistic, but a dense city is functional.