Ever since ditching car culture and joining the urbanist cause (on the internet at least but that has to change), I’ve noticed that some countries always top the list when it comes to good urbanism. The first and most oblivious one tends to be The Netherlands but Germany and Japan also come pretty close. But that’s strange considering that both countries have huge car industries. Germany is (arguably) the birthplace of the car (Benz Patent-Motorwagen) and is home to Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Japan is home to Toyota, Honda, Nissan and among others. How is it that these countries have been able to keep the auto lobby at bay and continue investing in their infrastructure?

    • 01011@monero.town
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      They’re cleaner and more pleasant than German cities. I haven’t been to a Japanese city as gross as Frankfurt.

      • suction@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        or rather you haven’t been to the parts of Japanese cities which are. In Osaka and Tokyo you can find areas that match Frankfurt 1:1.

        • 01011@monero.town
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          It’s pretty easy to avoid those areas in Tokyo. It’s damn near impossible in Frankfurt.

          • suction@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            So you are shifting from them existing to how easy it is to avoid them. See how that makes me take your arguments not for those of a serious person who knows what they’re talking about? Blocked.