The Tyranny of Transport?

For circa 100 years, the mighty car has dominated life in most European and US towns and cities. A state has now been reached, where other road users (pedestrians and cyclists) are endangered by vehicles and their emissions. Emphasis on car transport has often resulted in most forms of public transport (buses, trams and trains), being treated as poorly-funded, second rate alternatives. The 15-Minute City is an attempt to rebalance life within urbanised areas, by making the streets greener and more people-friendly. It basically involves redesigning roads, so most essential amenities (schools, shops, libraries, leisure centres, recycling points etc) can be reached within a 15 minute walk or cycle ride. The emphasis would obviously have to switch from creating out-of-town retail centres, largely reached by car. Strangely, Oliver Wainwright notes that a wide array of conspiracy theorists are now noisily campaigning against even the most modest 15-Minute City initiatives (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/16/15-minute-city-planning-theory-conspiracists). The conspiracy theorists, rather than welcoming the 15-Minute City as a low traffic, low carbon future, view it as an evil attack on their 'freedoms'. The freedom to drive anywhere, at any time is, however, not absolute (even motorists have responsibilities). Some conspiracists suggest that traffic changing initiatives will have to be maintained by surveillance culture. Some claim that people would have to apply for permissions to leave their 'open air prisons'. The motoring lobby is extremely powerful but the roads do not and should not belong exclusively to the car. Things need to change and having greener, people-friendly streets in town and city centres would be highly beneficial for most folk. 'Greenhouse gas' emissions would also fall. Having said that, public transport would need vast improvement. It would have to be made clean, cheap, fast and reliable. Special arrangements would also have to be made to cater for disabled and elderly folk, who generally cannot walk or cycle for 15 minutes. It should, however, be perfectly possible to come up with a less car-dominated environment in our towns and cities.