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?
Honestly germans seem to love to dunk on their own infrastructure. Pedestrian, bicycle and public transport infrastructure truly is on another level compared to the US. Why this is the case? I believe its because cities where already in place when the car was invented. In the US they were built for the car as a mode of transport when European cities where built in a way that was a lot more pedestrian friendly.
While the punctuality of DB (German railway operator is a mess) local regional trains can be pretty consistent and overall cities have a well built out priority, since we had to accommodate for so many peoples transport withoutbeingg able to built them as car friendly since the urban centers where already built. while the funding somewhat lacks today, this made public transport also an important thing people look out for.
Bicycle infrastructure can also be hit or miss depending in the region, but generally it is also on the radar of planners and there’s plenty of routes, although they’re nothing like the Netherlands.
Germans also really like shitting on their own country and being really critical which comes with its own upsides and downsides. For rural areas the car is definitely really important for getting around tho
Haha yes, the car is the German’s favorite child, and complaining their favorite pastime.
That being said, I think there’s more factors to it. Keep in mind that most German cities were in ruins after WWII, and plenty of buildings have been demolished to make room for cars.
The difference in electoral systems might play a role, where a green party could slowly, but steadily gain influence.
Railway infrastructure was already quite dense before mass motorization.
A lot of money has been spend to get through traffic out of town centers.
There’s probably more to it …
the US used to be quite well connected via rail
Indeed!
Nope!