US vs Europe Urbanism

"Europe" is much less homogeneous, from an urban-planning perspective, than the US. We have medieval cities with narrow streets, like Barcelona or Firenze, mixed with '70s developments, suburban dormitories, megalopolis like London and Paris, and so on. So depending on who you ask, you will get a very different picture of their habits around transportation. Undoubtedly, you Americans drive more and longer than we do; but we still drive some, and have a similar issue with choosing

You don't think people in Europe live in suburban or rural areas?The difference is networks of buses and trains that the countries and cities invested in over decades.America went in another direction, and looks no closer to changing it's mind.

What a weird comparison. Europe is a bit denser and smaller with more public transport, don't you think?

Americans live in cities with grid systems, wide roads and lots of parking space. They also primarily live in suburbs or towns.Europeans live primarily in cities with much less urban planning, narrow roads and not so much parking space.And European are 99% poorer than the average American (even in places such as France or Germany; they have similar per hour productivity but they work fewer hours so their total productivity is lower, thus their salaries are also lower, even gross salaries),

Worked for Europe. Everyone there lives in houses perhaps only half the size of a typical US home, and they're happy with it. Most people have the option to go live in the countryside, have a big house and drive a car, all for the same money, yet they choose to have a small city apartment and use public transport.

I have lived in both Europe and US for years. It is not fair to compare both places as the population density is totally different. You still do need a car if you are living in suburb area in Europe (in my case the Netherlands). And in US there is much less people living in the city.

This is not the reality that most Europeans live in. Europeans who live in major cities might enjoy their good public transport options, but in minor cities, towns and rural areas, public transport is crap to non-existent.US has 800 cars per 1000 people, but Italy and Spain have 650/1000 and even Poland, which is significantly poorer than US, has over 700 cars per 1000 people. In Europe, car ownership is only slightly less of a necessity than it is in the US, and I think if you look at t

Clearly you don’t know what you are talking about. I live on the very edge of the city limits of a city of a half million. These are dense 5 story apartment blocks. The next street over are 40 brand new apartment block buildings going up, serious density you would only see in the city center of a US city.The very next street is farms and villages. There are no suburbs, at least none that would be recognizable in the US. There are a few single family home neighborhoods, but not that many and t

Few or no European suburbs are as vast as your American suburbs (think Houston, Atlanta or the Bay area). In my home country (Denmark) young families now tend to stay in city centers rather than moving to suburbs so the trend is reverse.Also, European cities generally have much better public transportation such as really decent busses, trolley busses, light rails, subways, trains, and trams.Finally, I suspect a mile driven by 30-60 year olds are generally safer than a mile driven by teenag

Housing is a huge issue in Europe as well, yeah we have shorter commutes, but that comes at the cost of higher population densities which often means living in high/medium-rise flats.These flats would be considered tiny by American standards and you have a lot less privacy/independence from your neighbours.