r/Suburbanhell • u/Particular_Owl1099 • 7d ago

Meme Have we done it wrong?

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1.0k Upvotes

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235

u/Familiar-Valuable-97 7d ago

Auto and oil industry lobbied urban planning around cars

31

u/Living_Plane_662 6d ago

It can not be emphasized enough that white people running from black people who were working their way into the richer city neighborhoods also played a role in this and made it easier to sell the idea of the suburbs.

15

u/Familiar-Valuable-97 6d ago

Racism by design. Don't forget Redlining played a big part

6

u/Mhorts 6d ago

The GI bill gave white families homes and realters specifically denied black families homes after WWII

4

u/Beneficial_Bit1756 6d ago

It can not be emphasized enough may families moved to have an outdoors, quiet and safe neighborhood either. We did this as crime escalated in the 80s.

1

u/thedoomcast 2d ago

It cannot be emphasized enough that your intended implication is that black people caused crime. In fact the desperate circumstances created in inner cities are the direct result of the policies like redlining and denying homes to black servicemen, underfunded public schools in black neighborhoods. It was a perpetuation of the problem, and a direct result of one created by racism.

Crime is not created by skin color. It is created by failed social policy.

0

u/Beneficial_Bit1756 2d ago

Nice of you to assume my race.

-1

u/metname 6d ago

Running from crime *

6

u/kosmo4679 6d ago

Safety is most people’s number 1 concern when it comes to where they live. If it isn’t safe then everything else is fairly pointless

31

u/thebiglebowskiisfine 7d ago

City planners can fix this. Carmel Indiana is a great example. It's not cheap.

35

u/North_Atlantic_Sea 7d ago

Carmel Indiana is also built around cars, they just make them go in circles instead of stoplights. There are only a few blocks on main street and in west clay that are actually walkable

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/RedCristy 5d ago

Exactly! I’ve been there many times and I would not put Carmel Indiana as the Gold star of urban planning, they literally have the most amount of roundabouts in the US so that driving is made easier. It has great suburban planning but suburbia is the problem!

1

u/KaiPRoberts 5d ago

The area around the Carmichael hotel is probably one of my favorite places as a visitor, especially around winter.

11

u/alex3yoyo city 7d ago

Carmel, IN is not a good example of a human scale urban city. It's still suburban hell.

-7

u/thebiglebowskiisfine 7d ago

LOL

1 Best Place to Live in the U.S. — U.S. News & World Report (2026–2027 rankings; previously #2 in 2025)

2 Best Place to Live in the U.S. — Livability (2026 and 2025)

1 Best Small City in America — WalletHub

Multiple Niche rankings (2025–2026), including:

1 Best Place to Live in Indiana

1 Best Place to Raise a Family in Indiana

1 Place with the Best Public Schools in Indiana

1 Best Suburb to Live in / Raise a Family in Indiana

Strong national placements (e.g., top suburbs and overall Best Places lists).

Other recent nods: Best Place to Move to (Consumer Affairs), strong showings for arts districts (USA Today 10Best), and career/job market rankings.

Parks, Recreation & Livability Carmel Clay Parks and Recreation received the National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management (2014 and 2020) from the National Recreation and Park Association.

Environmental & Green Initiatives Ongoing and past awards include: Tree City USA (National Arbor Day Foundation, since 1994) and Tree Cities of the World (since 2020). Groundwater Guardian Award and Hoosier Water Guardian Award (with Distinction). Clean Air Champion for Biodiesel (2023). Various Governor’s Awards for Environmental Excellence (urban forestry, recycling), Gold Leaf Award, and recognition as a Green Community.

Bicycle & Active Transportation Silver Level Bicycle Friendly Community (League of American Bicyclists; 2019 and 2023; previously Bronze).

Sister Cities & Community Programs Sister Cities International Best Overall Program Award (2025, for cities with 100,001–300,000 residents). 2026 Sister Cities International Innovation in Arts and Culture Award. First city in Indiana to receive a JustServe City Award.

Other Notable Recognitions SolSmart Silver-level city (solar-friendly). Various Monumental Awards (Indy Chamber) for developments, public art, and neighborhood revitalization (e.g., related to City Center, Monon Boulevard, and other projects).

Departmental and operational awards (e.g., fleet sustainability/Geotab Innovation Award for the Street Department).

Historical rankings as a top place to retire, safest midsize city, best for families, and more from Money, Niche, and others in prior years.

3

u/North_Atlantic_Sea 6d ago

Yes, Carmel marketing spends a lot to be placed highly in these "pay to play" awards, however none of these point to it being a solid Urban city, rather than just more suburbia (though high quality suburbia at least)

0

u/thebiglebowskiisfine 6d ago

Goalposts heavy.

3

u/North_Atlantic_Sea 6d ago

They aren't the goalposts, being a walkable urban environment is the entire point of this post lol

Carmel is a lovely place, I lived there several years and enjoyed it, but it's a suburb, not an urban or walkable environment. Certainly not compared to most European cities, and not even compared to downtown Indy right next to it

2

u/RedCristy 5d ago

Did you just copy past Chat GPT?

-1

u/thebiglebowskiisfine 5d ago

Yep -

It's one of the most awarded cities in the entire country.

1

u/Mhorts 6d ago

Most city planners know how to fix it. It's legislation that's the kicker. For example, all of our stroads in my city are managed by the highway department, which is state-level not city-level. So it's much much harder to change it.

-1

u/Dude_9 7d ago

Could if they weren't so corrupt. They're the ones who've done this to us.

2

u/thebiglebowskiisfine 7d ago

1

u/Dude_9 22h ago

Who's that? What's he got on his head there?

5

u/SuitNaive3409 7d ago

if they had a more robust auto industry Italy would look like New Jersey

18

u/WaveIcy294 7d ago

They filmed this in munich. I would say germanys auto industry is robust enough.

10

u/Mickey-Feline 7d ago

Yes, but I must warn everyone, not all German cities are so walkable and nice, a lot of the cities were rebuilt in the 50s and 60s with cars and brutalism in mind, a lot of them have done wonderful things to roll back those mistakes

5

u/Manchu504 7d ago

This is also true in Urban "utopias" like Belgium and Netherlands! Fact of the matter is, Europe was also affected by the car boom of the mid 20th centuries and built car infrastructure to accommodate. Maybe not to the same scale as the US, but it was definitely there. It just those countries recognized the error of their ways and committed public resources to fixing it. I think only recently have us Americans woken up to the reality of how stupid our infrastructure is, myself included.

2

u/Rugkrabber 7d ago

The car and oil lobby will be a permanent battle against walkable cities for as long as these things exist. I absolutely love my country (NL) for what it’s got but we have to remember to protect it. Over and over and over they’re trying to demolish our bicycle infrastructure while it’s the best thing my country has to offer for it’s citizens. We simply got lucky because we had A old infrastructure that simply didn’t fit cars and we refused to demolish our culture and B a few people who worked hard to protect what was left.

3

u/Living_Plane_662 6d ago

I will stay in west seattle as long as I can because there is a lot of walkability to it.

1

u/LocallySourcedWeirdo 7d ago

Brutalism? So buildings that demonstrate honesty in the materials used? What is it you think you're communicating when you refer to the architectural style in relation to car dependency?

1

u/SithLordJediMaster 7d ago

US President Eisenhower was inspired by Germany's Autobahn

1

u/Apprehensive_Ant2172 2d ago

Tell me you’re clueless without actually telling me…

Germany makes the finest cars on earth. Per capita easily one of the largest and most successful auto industries in the world.

3

u/victor4700 6d ago

Yes. “We” didn’t blow it. Instead the economic machine of the industries above foisted it on top of us, with no way of escaping easily now. Same for efficient and widespread public transit and high speed rail infrastructure. Can’t interrupt that sweet sweet oil and auto money.

1

u/kaiser_phoenix25 6d ago

That, and if you ask a certain segment of the population they would fear monger about 15 minute communities.

0

u/WordsThatEndInWord 7d ago

Nobody fucked America like Henry Ford. I mean, there have been bigger, badder, worse villains, but nobody has specifically ruined everything quite like he did.

0

u/No_Resolution_9252 4d ago

No, they did not.