Cars need lots of space. Streets and roads need to be wide, and parking lots are needed when cars are not in use.
These factors push everything far apart. If you think of North American shopping plazas in suburban areas, they are generally large empty spaces with parking lots between stores.
If you want to cross the street or road to the Walmart or HomeDepot in the plazza accross the one you are in, you generally need to drive or walk 20 min or more, and you need to walk to a main intersection with pedestrians signals, good luck trying to cross 4-6 lanes of suburban traffic with shopping bags.
Let alone, local transit stops are located outside the plaza’s at a major intersection generally with a 15min walk to the store entrance.
The urban planning is extremely inefficient and poor.
Cars need lots of space. Streets and roads need to be wide, and parking lots are needed when cars are not in use.
These factors push everything far apart. If you think of North American shopping plazas in suburban areas, they are generally large empty spaces with parking lots between stores.
If you want to cross the street or road to the Walmart or HomeDepot in the plazza accross the one you are in, you generally need to drive or walk 20 min or more, and you need to walk to a main intersection with pedestrians signals, good luck trying to cross 4-6 lanes of suburban traffic with shopping bags.
Let alone, local transit stops are located outside the plaza’s at a major intersection generally with a 15min walk to the store entrance.
The urban planning is extremely inefficient and poor.