The post-automobile city: legal mechanisms to establish the pedestrian-friendly city

Abstract

This book surveys the literature on the automobile and its impact on the design of American cities and the quality of life. In the face of worsening traffic congestion, deteriorating central cities face growing unmet housing and employment needs. Suburban zoning and other land use controls aggravate these needs by excluding apartments, failing to offer efficient public transport, and rendering access to suburban jobs dependent on expensive automobile use. The book describes a vision of a city that is not dominated by the automobile. The post-automobile city is not car-free, but the city is redesigned to offer infrastructure for pedestrians and those who desire to live car-free. Parks, park blocks, gardens, urban landscaped pathways, pedestrian shopping streets, and inviting piazzas would replace the emphasis on surface parking lots and a tight grid of traffic. The book explores various strategies to pursue the post-automobile city, including planning, housing, redevelopment, transportation, and pedestrianization strategies. The author also explores various legal mechanisms that can implement the post-automobile city and explains legal constraints to various planning strategies, particularly the constraints of the takings clauses and the regime of American property rights.