Originally Posted by
gerv
The idea that you could buy a house in an area that is not at all walkable is a frightening thought. What has this world come to if we lives in neighbourhoods where we can't easily walk (or there's nothing to walk to...).
I think if you showed this thread to someone living 100 years ago, they'd probably think the human race was doomed.
Luckily no one living 100 years ago has access to the Internet.
Most likely until they knew all the details they would probably consider that our society had gotten considerably richer (they would be right). In 1909 people either didn't travel or were fairly wealthy. The wealthy were able to afford the trains, riverboats, horses, carriages, servants, and the newly emerging form of transportation automobiles that allowed them to live away from the masses. They would probably think that America was as close to a paradise as they could imagine. Even the poor have vehicles and can get just about anywhere in the country in days. We don't see the sewage, we have lights whenever we need them, everyone has education etc. The amazing thing about this is that it is ubiquitous, (nearly) everyone has this not just the rich. Around the turn of the 20C someone had said that science had invented nearly everything that could be invented. A hundred years later that scientist would be left speechless. Living in walkable neighborhoods is a good thing but I doubt our ancestors given the opportunity would decline our current mobility.