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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 27, 2023

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As far as I can tell, urbanists propose quite a lot of reforms that are quite far from "ban all cars." Here's a handful (keeping in mind that not everything on the list is implemented everywhere all at once; the priorities would be for cities, downtowns, and areas near transit):

  1. Repeal CAFE and replace it with a carbon tax and/or higher gas tax.

  2. Create more pedestrian areas with few vehicles.

  3. Build more bike lanes. Having lanes that are protected from cars and in useful places is more important than having many miles of bad bike lanes.

  4. Repeal or reduce SFR only zoning, along with related policies like parking minimums, setback requirements, minimum lot sizes, etc.

  5. Build more traffic calming measures. We already have speed bumps and low speed limits, even (especially!) in low-density suburbs, but those aren't really enough.

  6. Instead of building infinite roads with the mistaken belief it will alleviate congestion, provide alternatives and use congestion pricing. Similar for parking; don't provide free or subsidized public parking.