Cars inhibit civic culture.  In Europe, "Sunday Streets" is all the time in many downtown locations.  Rome, Paris, London, Copenhagen,,,,,
Its uphill for the US to create more humane cities and towns. Urban planning is primarily for mobility, not accessibility.  Smart planning means less cars and concrete and better public transit.  Atlanta has an urban footprint 30 times Barcelona yet both cities have about the same population.  60% of Barcelonans live within half a km of a transit station, thats 2% for Atlantans, for about the same amount of commuter rail and similar populations.  Houston, San Diego, Portland, Denver, Seattle are just about as bad as Atlanta.