Originally Posted by
I-Like-To-Bike
Perhaps you, like the article writer, also seem to forget that the twenty somethings at the bottom of the earnings scale, are likely to get older and/or grow up and have families and possibly in the future have more transportation responsibilities than making arrangements on their smartphone about when to meet with their pals at today's hippest bar.
Probably more than a few might even find overpriced tiny apartments/walkups in gentrified neighborhoods with crappy schools with too many sociopaths in the neighborhood less appealing once they grow up or have children of their own.
ILTB, what you seem to be implying is that whatever gains are made in car-free living will be temporary and will only serve to prime the expansion of car-friendly (suburban?) communities when car-free people change their tastes. If this is indeed the case, do you expect that existing cities will continue to expand with ever more suburbs? Or do you expect a spillover effect where existing cities reach sprawl-limits, which cause people to migrate into smaller cities and drive expansion of those cities in the direction of the sprawl-limits already established by bigger cities?
Also, what do you see as the long term future of North America? Do you think it will gradually densify coast-to-coast as a car-friendly network of highways, roads, and parkable destinations? Do you think future Americans will be able to drive anywhere and everywhere or will limits evolve that restrict driving-migration patterns according to certain regional patterns with inter-regional migratory patterns being determined by air-travel, train-travel, and other non-automotive transportation? (note: by "migration," I don't just mean (semi)permanent relocation but also short-term travel for various personal and business reasons).