Auto-centric, pedestrian-hostile cities OUTSIDE of North America

[destroycreate]

I'm admittedly fascinated by cities that fit these parameters outside of North America, because it's generally unexpected.

What cities come to mind that are auto-centric, not particularly walkable, and could put some of our sunbelt cities to shame? Particularly interested to hear if there are cities in Asia like this. Requirement: Show pics!

Here are some that come to mind:

Brasilia

https://image.slidesharecdn.com/braz...?cb=1281601967


https://c8.alamy.com/comp/BE31YN/bra...ces-BE31YN.jpg


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...10-06-15_2.jpg


https://c8.alamy.com/comp/DT6FGA/one...ing-DT6FGA.jpg

[Segun]

I see at least one walkable commercial street in between all of that madness. Some places in the US don't have that.

Sao Paolo didn't feel that pedestrian-friendly, even though pedestrians were everywhere.

[iheartthed]

São Paulo isn't that pedestrian friendly, but it's much better than many American Sun Belt cities. It's not as good as northeast corridor cities, nor is it as good as Great Lakes cities in their heyday.

The last time this came up I think we talked about Milton Keynes in England. Someone also posted some pretty bad shots of suburban Paris in that thread too, which looked like it could be the suburbs of any North American city.

[bossabreezes]

São Paulo is less pedestrian friendly than New York as a whole, although it has central nodes that are very pedestrian friendly.

It's very much a mix of New York and Los Angeles, all in one city. Depending on neighborhood, the walkability mirrors one of these two American cities.

--

Brasília is very unfriendly to the pedestrian but was designed to be. It was built at the height of auto-centric culture and was seen as being modern at the time. The city does exude a ''Jetsons'' persona and continues to build in the same futuristic 1960s style, but some neighborhoods outside of the planned capital district are densifying and becoming more friendly to pedestrians.

[SIGSEGV]

I suspect many places on the Arabian peninsula would qualify.

[jbermingham123]

Basically any city that has been built (or undergone major centrally-planned redesigning) since the car was invented is going to fit these criteria

[909]

Milton Keynes in the UK was inspired by an American model of a low-density town built on a grid system. Although there is a network of pedestrian and cycle paths and some public transport, a quick look at the picture below or in Google Maps makes it pretty obvious this British new town was designed for the car.


(Independent.co.uk/)

[Crawford]

Jakarta is a city that should theoretically be transit and pedestrian friendly (dense, poor, gigantic) but has horrible walkability.

[jbermingham123]

Beijing is the least walkable city i have ever visited

[MolsonExport]

Dubai for sure.

Aussie cities (I've been to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Cairns, and a few other places) are pretty auto-centric, at least as much if not more than their Canadian counterparts

[Omaharocks]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Jakarta is a city that should theoretically be transit and pedestrian friendly (dense, poor, gigantic) but has horrible walkability.

Yeah, there are quite a few places like this. Even in Europe, the Balkans region has a lot of dense cities with very poor pedestrian infrastructure. Athens, Greece has made strides recently, but isn't a particular enjoyable place to be a pedestrian unless you're in the historic area around the acropolis. This despite the fact that Athens is the 2nd most dense large metro on the continent.

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by Segun

I see at least one walkable commercial street in between all of that madness. Some places in the US don't have that.

Sao Paolo didn't feel that pedestrian-friendly, even though pedestrians were everywhere.

I think we can say São Paulo is pedestrian-friendly today. It's public transit has been expanding non-stop and it's by far the best in the country. Its central districts are very dense and in many of the most people don't own cars anymore, which is impressive in a city/state obsessed by cars.

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

São Paulo is less pedestrian friendly than New York as a whole, although it has central nodes that are very pedestrian friendly.

It's very much a mix of New York and Los Angeles, all in one city. Depending on neighborhood, the walkability mirrors one of these two American cities.

--

Brasília is very unfriendly to the pedestrian but was designed to be. It was built at the height of auto-centric culture and was seen as being modern at the time. The city does exude a ''Jetsons'' persona and continues to build in the same futuristic 1960s style, but some neighborhoods outside of the planned capital district are densifying and becoming more friendly to pedestrians.

I would mention the neighbouring Goiânia as very autocentric, despite having a very distinct urban form. It's a 2.5 million people metro area without any dense district that supports a non-car lifestyle. Arid sidewalks, big distances, hot weather.


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South African cities. As American cities, very autocentrics. Many streets in Johannesburg leafy suburbs don't even have sidewalks. It's just gardens and any pedestrian will be forced to walk on the street.

[dc_denizen]

parts of suburban scandinavia have the built form of some exurban/suburban US areas, but with bike/walking paths along the (narrower) roads and lower top speeds.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ta...4!4d23.7609535
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ta...4!4d23.7609535
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ta...4!4d23.7609535

the differential in density between the DDR-style garden apartment and SFH areas is quite high. sort of west vs east berlin thing going on

lot more people here than in the SFH areas

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ta...4!4d23.7609535

but the SFH areas could pass as American

btw all of this was once historic wood-frame housing,now DDR style

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ta...4!4d23.7609535

"downtown" of a suburban town

https://www.google.com/maps/@61.4803...7i13312!8i6656

[dc_denizen]

does stuff like this even exist outside of North America? packed high density SFH?

https://www.google.com/maps/place/De...!4d-104.990251

in europe the SFH suburbs are far more sparse, and the density is gained via mid-rises nearer the city centers.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

does stuff like this even exist outside of North America? packed high density SFH?

https://www.google.com/maps/place/De...!4d-104.990251

in europe the SFH suburbs are far more sparse, and the density is gained via mid-rises nearer the city centers.

Sure, here are some examples:

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4797.../data=!3m1!1e3

https://www.google.com/maps/@48.1692.../data=!3m1!1e3

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.2267.../data=!3m1!1e3

[homebucket]

Singapore didn't feel particularly pedestrian friendly compared to its other big Asian city counterparts like Taipei, HK, Seoul, Tokyo, Bangkok, etc. Guangzhou was kind of in between those other cities but not quite as bad as Singapore. There are some walkable areas, but still quite a decent amount where it was very autocentric. Still, it's a fantastic city that makes up for it with top notch public transport, and would recommend for travel, especially if you've never been to Asia before. It's probably the ideal starter city to get your feet wet since people speak English and it's clean and the food is a little more tuned to Western tastes.

Taken by me:















^ Crazy, rich Asians, amirite!?

[bilbao58]

Granted, it’s been more than 40 years since I spent a summer there, but Kuala Lumpur was definitely not pedestrian friendly in those days. Singapore was only slightly better.

[Commentariat]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

does stuff like this even exist outside of North America? packed high density SFH?

https://www.google.com/maps/place/De...!4d-104.990251

in europe the SFH suburbs are far more sparse, and the density is gained via mid-rises nearer the city centers.

Most of pre-1970s Australia looks something like that, does that count?

[Commentariat]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

Granted, it’s been more than 40 years since I spent a summer there, but Kuala Lumpur was definitely not pedestrian friendly in those days. Singapore was only slightly better.

I’ve travelled all over South East Asia and it is generally a fairly terrible pedestrian experience. I think this, along with the hot and humid climate, is why indoor malls are incredibly popular across the region.

[333609543]

Chandigarh, India was designed by Le Corbusier, I don't have any photos of it but I know its quite auto-dependent.