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?
Germany should not be in the same conversation as Japan when it comes to urban planning. Germany is very much car centric and most German cities are hideous.
You can usually get around the bigger cities without a car but once you leave the cities its horrible. Also, our railway system Is ducked to a point where driving schedules can’t really be calculated anymore.
…while Japanese cities are beautiful…LMAOOOO
They’re cleaner and more pleasant than German cities. I haven’t been to a Japanese city as gross as Frankfurt.