Car owner vs. space owner

While very complex, the issue of urban mobility is first and foremost one of space.


Cities need a certain density to properly function, and in urban area space becomes the most valuable commodity. And, so far, we’ve been throwing that space away. Actually, we filled it with cars, but, as those sit for about 95% of their lifetimes, it’s the same thing. It’s a very inefficient use of public space and it simply destroys cities. Physically it is not possible for everybody to own a car, while streets remain free to drive on. This quickly becomes an issue of inequality. Car owners become arrogant with their use of space, like it belongs to them, when it’s actually the public space of the city: they bought a car, they didn’t pay for the space it takes away from the people. The curios thing is that people, instead of rejecting this aggression, want to become that guy, the car owner.