That car is not inherently required. It's required because US cities are designed around cars.
There's a great channel called "Not just bikes" that demonstrates what cities look like that don't follow this pattern. Denser buildings, narrower and fewer lanes, less space wasted on parking, better pedestrian crossings and islands, better signaling/timing for pedestrians, etc.
Those cities have lower noise, lower pollution, better economics (road maintenance is a massive cost) and are way safer.
Everyone on HN keeps saying cities. Cities this, cities that. Sure, maybe it's an ideal from an efficiency standpoint. But guess what, a lot of people in the US don't live in cities. Most of the country consists of space that is not cities. Most of the people I know live in these places, all across the country.
There's a great channel called "Not just bikes" that demonstrates what cities look like that don't follow this pattern. Denser buildings, narrower and fewer lanes, less space wasted on parking, better pedestrian crossings and islands, better signaling/timing for pedestrians, etc.
Those cities have lower noise, lower pollution, better economics (road maintenance is a massive cost) and are way safer.