M — I hear you with different people wanting different levels of social interaction / interaction w/ nature, etc. in life. That said, I would say that in general, right now, people are getting neither to commune with nature or with other people as much as they like. Of course, there are exceptions….

Erica — Not sure if you’ve been following the Car Free Mondays series here, but in case you’re new — I think you’d really enjoy reading what these women have to say about the reactions of car-dependent people :) Often, I think these fears of being mugged / assaulted are not all just fears, but go-to excuses for people who want reasons for why they don’t want to change their lifestyle.

I really enjoy being able to walk most places, and I don’t mind living in a smaller space to make that happen. I’m looking into biking to work to cut my metro costs a bit and get away from the throngs of people.

I know that there are a lot of places that are just not walkable, but I do think that the cost difference between walkable and non-walkable ‘hoods will decrease over time if people show a desire for it. A lot of how we got here was through car companies deliberate actions, so it won’t be easy to undo. Rebuilding infrastructure is harder than tearing it down in the first place.

I was having a conversation with someone recently and she was giving all of the reasons why she NEEDED a car despite living in a metro-accessible apartment in a dense city. I finally got her to at least be able to see that she has a car because she wants one which I think is a big step. It isn’t bad for people to have something just because they want it, but we can’t change minds if they can’t even see where the decision originates. What was very interesting to me is how many of her reasons had to do with safety. I think that is a big problem in the minds of many people. I try to explain that statistically speaking, you are safer if you are walking or on a train/bus than if you are driving but people have internalized the dangers of being in a car so much that they are invisible. There is a heightened perception of the dangers from being mugged or otherwise assaulted on the street.

Another problem is that not everyone needs the same things in life. There are the basic needs of food, water and shelter, but in terms of noise, light pollution, interactions with people vs. interactions with animals/plants and entertainment people have very different tolerances and needs. Assuming that all of those needs can be calculated by a walkscore is rather simplistic (especially since some rather far out things qualify for some of the walk-score categories). Some of my best walking experiences have happened in areas with some of the worst walkscores and I would have never paid the price of being hit by a car like I would in some areas with a very low walkscore.