<story><title>To build the cities of the future, we must get out of our cars</title><url>https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2019/04/to-build-cities-of-the-future-stop-driving-cars</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ptero</author><text>&amp;gt; US car manufacturers are doubling down on large trucks and SUVs&lt;p&gt;Manufacturers are building lots of SUVs because this is what people in the US &lt;i&gt;prefer&lt;/i&gt; to buy. If manufacturers build tons of subcompacts instead they would have to drop prices and probably sell those subcompacts at a loss.&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to sell more small cars instead you should convince &lt;i&gt;consumers&lt;/i&gt; to buy them (e.g., via end user incentives), which would make it profitable for car companies to build lots of them.</text></item><item><author>mtberatwork</author><text>&amp;gt; the US went to the other extreme and is only slowly turning around.&lt;p&gt;US car manufacturers are doubling down on large trucks and SUVs and the current administration continues to thwart progress on tackling climate change and other societal concerns. I would say the US, at least on a macro level, is still on the &amp;quot;other extreme&amp;quot; path.</text></item><item><author>Tepix</author><text>Not exactly rocket science. Many cities around the world have figured it out already. To me it seems that the US went to the other extreme and is only slowly turning around.&lt;p&gt;I remember reading &amp;quot;Das neue Universum&amp;quot;² in the early 80s where they proposed large skyscrapers connected by tubes. No cars in sight.&lt;p&gt;Oh and don&amp;#x27;t miss &amp;quot;Das Neue Universum Volume 84 (1967)&amp;quot;: &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;klausbuergle.de&amp;#x2F;buergle_verkehr1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;klausbuergle.de&amp;#x2F;buergle_verkehr1.htm&lt;/a&gt; -&lt;p&gt;Click on the bottom left image  - looks a lot like Hyperloop, doesn&amp;#x27;t it? The text even mentions that the tubes contain a vacuum!&lt;p&gt;--&lt;p&gt;² &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;de.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Das_Neue_Universum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;de.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Das_Neue_Universum&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>amalcon</author><text>Is this really surprising?  The benefits of driving a large vehicle are all internal (comfort, safety of vehicle occupants, cargo capacity, range between fueling).  The costs, however, are mostly external (road maintenance, emissions, safety of non occupants, space consumed for parking).&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#x27;d need to substantially incentivize smaller vehicles to overcome these things, but we actually incentivize larger vehicles (through looser emissions standards).</text></comment>
<story><title>To build the cities of the future, we must get out of our cars</title><url>https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2019/04/to-build-cities-of-the-future-stop-driving-cars</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ptero</author><text>&amp;gt; US car manufacturers are doubling down on large trucks and SUVs&lt;p&gt;Manufacturers are building lots of SUVs because this is what people in the US &lt;i&gt;prefer&lt;/i&gt; to buy. If manufacturers build tons of subcompacts instead they would have to drop prices and probably sell those subcompacts at a loss.&lt;p&gt;If you wanted to sell more small cars instead you should convince &lt;i&gt;consumers&lt;/i&gt; to buy them (e.g., via end user incentives), which would make it profitable for car companies to build lots of them.</text></item><item><author>mtberatwork</author><text>&amp;gt; the US went to the other extreme and is only slowly turning around.&lt;p&gt;US car manufacturers are doubling down on large trucks and SUVs and the current administration continues to thwart progress on tackling climate change and other societal concerns. I would say the US, at least on a macro level, is still on the &amp;quot;other extreme&amp;quot; path.</text></item><item><author>Tepix</author><text>Not exactly rocket science. Many cities around the world have figured it out already. To me it seems that the US went to the other extreme and is only slowly turning around.&lt;p&gt;I remember reading &amp;quot;Das neue Universum&amp;quot;² in the early 80s where they proposed large skyscrapers connected by tubes. No cars in sight.&lt;p&gt;Oh and don&amp;#x27;t miss &amp;quot;Das Neue Universum Volume 84 (1967)&amp;quot;: &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;klausbuergle.de&amp;#x2F;buergle_verkehr1.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;klausbuergle.de&amp;#x2F;buergle_verkehr1.htm&lt;/a&gt; -&lt;p&gt;Click on the bottom left image  - looks a lot like Hyperloop, doesn&amp;#x27;t it? The text even mentions that the tubes contain a vacuum!&lt;p&gt;--&lt;p&gt;² &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;de.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Das_Neue_Universum&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;de.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Das_Neue_Universum&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bryanlarsen</author><text>The deck is stacked, though.  CUV&amp;#x27;s are considered trucks for the purposes of CAFE regulation.  If they were considered the cars that they really are, they would be more fuel efficient, more expensive and manufacturers would be pushing small cars a lot harder to bring those averages down.</text></comment>