This may be true, but I think the points made in the comment you are responding to are nevertheless true for UK and European cities as well. Roads have been a fundamental part of the development of modern towns and cities throughout the Western world.
replyUSA cities are low density because they are road–focused
replyThe United States emerged during a period of abundant frontier land, which normalized the idea that ordinary people could own large, independent plots. This contrasted sharply with Europe’s older, land-constrained settlement patterns. That early culture of space and ownership later interacted with industrialization, the automobile, and government policy to produce the low-density development that characterizes much of the U.S. today.
replyAnother interesting fact about plot sizes in Europe: You can see within an area which kind of inheritance law was in place: If farming plots are large, usually the oldest son inherited everything. If they are small, they were evenly distributed.
replySource: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026483772...
When you go into the Northeast, a lot of narrower roads were planned for slow-moving horse-drawn carts.
replyThe vast, _vast_ majority of such infrastructure was turn down in the 60s to make way for the almighty automobile.
replyThe number of places in the north american continent that retain their street focused infrastructure is pretty much countable on one hand, and most of that is being terribly managed.
Exactly go Worcester, Providence and Boston and be in awe at how fucking horrendous the maze is.
replyBoston is only horrendous in a car. Walking around and taking public transit in Boston is very nice. OTOH Providence feels like it's designed for cars, much easier to drive there but always need the car around and their highways and roads are terrible. There's a ton of highway to split the city. Worcester is less highway constricted but still definitely need a car to get around and I still can't figure my way around.
replyHorse-drawn carts are not any narrower than cars are, and many place (e.g., the Marina District of San Francisco) designed in the horse era have very wide streets.
replyPretty much any car that's bigger than a subcompact is wider than a horse drawn cart.
reply