Before the popularity and availability of the auto, we had an agrarian society. People lived on farms and were self sufficient. The population was almost half of what it is now. Since the 2nd WW all that has changed. Populations have exploded, farm land has been paved over to build roads and where there had been acres of fertile fields there are now housing developments with smaller and smaller lots to feed the greed of the developers and make it almost impossible for the inhabitants to grow enough to sustain themselves even if they wanted to.

Society cannot and will not go back to an older way of life. It doesn't know how, and the mass majority would rather suffer the consequences of bigger and more crime ridden cities where everything is more convenient.

The only ones who could survive in a suberbia without autos are those who can make a living off their computer.