Not sure if this is your blog but good choice! This is certainly the main reason I live where I do. And I've never been happier.

There are so many benefits but an underrated one is I honestly think a lot of the lonely people out there might have a better time of it if they lived in car-free environments. There's just something different about the way people interact when you see them incidentally all the time as you go about your business.

Like two of my best friends now I happened to meet at a neighborhood meeting. We chatted on the walk home but I'm shy so I probably never would have reached out to them. But then we happened to see each other on train and chatted more, and this kept happening and now we're great friends.

Great personal write-up. When I was walking to work and taking the train everywhere a couple of years ago (because I wasn't living in the US), it was the best time of my life, and I am actively trying to recapture that. I also found myself being healthier, feeling better, etc. when not driving.

It's truly amazing how driving is the default in American society, and it gets accepted as such, but when you're able to break away from it, it feels like the world opens up. Despite the bitter cold of a Chicago winter, I'd much prefer to just walk somewhere than take a car, even if walking takes longer.

This checks out.

Many people are really emotionally invested in cars and car-centric life. It's depressing. I think sometimes it's a defense mechanism- convince yourself the car world is good actually so you don't have to feel bad. Tell yourself that people who live in walkable areas are just privileged jerks out of touch with the world, and then it doesn't feel so bad.

I'm liking New Orleans 100x better than Chicago for this criteria.

I moved back to India from Germany last year. The cities in Europe are so walking/cycling friendly compared to where I’m at. My commute to work is almost 30km, with no viable public transport that wouldn’t take over 2 hours. My only option is to drive and I loathe it