Two weeks ago I was in Brussels Belgium for a software conference. I saw some interesting things about transportation that's different than we do in the U.S. One thing I like about traveling is to see how different cultures take similar widgetry to what we have, and apply it in a different way.
Brussels is both the capital of Belgium, and the capital of the European Union. But beside that it is an amazingly compact city. The city is almost entirely built with 5-story buildings with very little in the way of skyscrapers, and those are only in the vicinity of the bulk of the European Union buildings. In the center of town, lots of the buildings go back hundreds of years, and there's a maze of narrow streets. However outside the center the streets are a bit wider and less of a maze.
They do have an extensive set of trains and busses throughout the city. I think the moderate density is what makes the mass transit feasible.
I saw a few motorcycles like this. This is REALLY interesting ....
Agreed, it is the density (specifically, the floor area ratio - FAR) is the trick. For optimum livability and ability to do without a car, you don't want Manhattan or Tokyo-level densities, but you certainly don't want US suburban density levels. A FAR of 1.5 (parking garage space does NOT count) is ideal. This corresponds to 4 story buildings and townhouses covering 37 percent of the land, - still plenty of open space for plazas, parks and gardening...IF we don't have to accommodate the huge space requirements of cars.
When you reach this "critical mass" and allow a diverse mix of residential/business/retail/restaurants/public market stalls (but NO big boxes of course), all kinds of dynamics kick in and the city becomes a great place to live in. Such communities are usually even much quieter than suburban ones - because car use is much less and at lower speeds (and no lawnmowers in the spring!) The neighborhood of Bloomfield in Pittsburgh, where I lived for seven years, met these criteria, and the only loud noise that ever bothered us was children playing.
But the problem is as long as cities are built with the expectation of car use for even short errands, we can't get to the magic FAR of 1.5 unless we build tall buildings mixed with ugly parking garages - not formula for livability. This is the source of most of the prevailing attitude in the US of cities being unpleasant, noisy and crowded - but it is the cars, and infrastructure to accommodate them not, the spaces used by people, that creates this unpleasantness.
http://www.carfree.com
Every time there is a large fire in a tall building, some fireman says to a newsman "I wish they wouldn't make buildings over 5 stories"...