Plenty of cities in Europe ban cars from the city center - or at least strictly limit them. London springs to mind, with its congestion charging zone, and few people would claim that London wasn't a thriving, vibrant metropolis. Many Londoners don't even have a car and commute to work by public transport. Cycling's becoming more and more popular too, even in the purpetual drizzle. Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Budapest are all Major European cities that can function, to a point, without the motorcar and all are vibrant places. In fact the most boring, wretched and ugliest city in Europe is without a doubt Warsaw - and surprise surpise, it's a city designed around 6 lane highways, shopping malls and crap public transport. (I live in Poland FYI) PS. I say good riddence to the truck industry too. Bloody ridiculous idea. Trains can easily haul most goods over the country and are perfect for moving commodoties like furniture, electrical good and raw materials. In fact, it's nothing new - that's just how it was done 100 years ago. What about food? Well, they did that by train in the past too. Hence: Chicago. The fact that so much rail infrastructure is neglected is another example of Western Lunacy. Maybe the shopping malls should've been build near railway lines - then you could haul commuters and goods for relative peanuts. Sorry, but cars designed around cities and determined to stay that way are doomed. Even LA is expanding it's metro and urbanising it's souless interior into something vaguely resembling a downtown.
