Browsing

I have a reaction to this article, in which the author tries to describe how a car-based city, Houston, can support vibrancy. He talks about how in terms of travel time, virtually the same amount of stuff is available to a Houstonite as to a Manhattanite. He then describes how, in terms of difficulty going out to do stuff, Houston and Manhattan are about equal, given the various difficulties of the subway and so forth.

But I think the biggest problem with his argument is that when you're driving you can't easily stop-- therefore you can't browse.

Picture this: say every new article of clothing you bought you had to come up with at home, then you went out and picked it up. You'd never get anywhere. Rather, we go to a store and browse around what's there, and designers give us ideas. In the burbs you come up with what would be fun in your house, rather than going out and seeing what's there.

The public forum of ideas of what to do and what to buy and what to make is what's at stake. And neither faster highways nor the internet can replace the sidewalk.