mihlbach

The earliest of these "Levittowns", including Levittown itself were built on the assumption that dad took the one family car to work and left mom and the kids at home to walk and/or bike to the store, etc. The earliest versions of these types of communities were actually quite bikeable. Subsequent development has largely killed such conveniences, however. For instance, I live in an older (pre-Levit) community on Long Island. The more recently built supermarkets and shopping centers are within a few miles of me and concentrated into one area, which would seemingly make biking or walking errands very easy. However the roads needed to access these places are now so car-packed and extremely hostile that its difficult and dangerous to access these places without a car, so as a result, no one bikes there and the local businesses have no motivation to set up bike parking, etc. This negative feedback process, initiated by cheap cars and gas, has exterminated the concept of utilitarian biking to all but the poorest.