Our Metal overlords

 "The streets belong to the machines now.  Thank you for granting us passage, metal majesty."

A friend passed this new TV series on to me...Adam Ruins Everything from TRUtv.  Essentially the premise is the host, Adam, dismantles many of our preconceived notions about why things are the way they are.   In this episode he takes on car culture, dealerships, transportation infrastructure, and where our love affair with the car really comes from.   And while I was delighted that the statistics that were actually cited within the tv show were from many of the resources I have already read, (indeed some of these live on my book shelf) they are no less devastating.  In fact, cramming them so entertainingly into 22 minutes may make this the best bang for your buck TV ever!

I'm sure many in Planning or those who can't break free from the idea that the car is the only way to get around will say that we live in 2015 so this is the world we have to build for.  But that is a ridiculous argument when you understand that some of our greatest cities for walking and cycling and transit went down the car dominated road several decades ago and realized it was a dead end, quite literally.  They turned away from a car dominated society and are now held up as the best examples of how city transportation should work.  Better for quality of life, health, and society.

 Full Episode: