Originally published October 2022.

 Productivity, sustainability and resilience. 

This summer I left central London and lived for a month in suburban Austin, Texas. It was an adjustment.

In London, I was used to having a coffee shop close, a convenience store closer and a pub closest of all. In Austin, things are different. 

Like many of the rapidly growing cities in the south of the United States, housing is low density and life is very car-dependent. I quickly learned that “nearby” did not mean a short walk and was more likely to mean a 10-minute drive.

Getting into your car to go to work, school, shops and eating out is not what I am used to. Every part of your day is punctuated by a drive. It is a very different way of interacting with the urban environment. It’s city life, but not as we know it.

History and policy shape different urban forms

Walkability was a necessity rather than a fashionable option when much of central London’s development took place. 

London’s most rapid growth during the era of industrialisation pre-dated automobiles and many of the transit options we take for granted today. People had to walk to work, so cities had to be compact and dense.

In many US cities, significant growth occurred much later in relatively prosperous times, when people owned cars. The post-World War II growth of cities was driven by suburban growth, with people commuting by car to their place of work downtown. The cost of energy has made a big difference too. Lower costs in the US have made commuting by car and suburban living more viable for more people.

And higher-density living is also a policy choice. In some European countries, like France, agricultural subsidies artificially inflate the cost of farmland, making the economics of developing suburban housing less appealing. In contrast, many of the fast-growing US cities are surrounded by plentiful, cheap land.

More directly and deliberately, policymakers have sought to limit the footprint of urban areas. Some European countries have done this more strictly and more successfully than others.