Each week, In Theory takes on a big idea in the news and explores it from a range of perspectives. This week, we’re talking about car-free cities. Need a primer? Catch up here.
Jarrett Walker is a consultant in public transit planning and policy, based in Portland, Ore. He is the author of the book “Human Transit“ (Island Press, 2011) and the blog HumanTransit.org.
Cars don’t work well in cities, and the reason is simple:
1) A city is a place where people live close together, so there’s not much space per person.
2) Cars take up a lot of space per person.
3) Therefore, cities quickly run out of room for cars.
