Automobiles started to dominate land development in American communities well before World War II, and they changed the metropolitan structure and the activity and density patterns entirely in the second half of the twentieth century. Motor vehicles may not have been the cause of these revolutionary events, but they certainly were the powerful means toward the results. Under their influence, metropolitan areas are now different in size and shape, and urban operations have changed for almost everybody. The old city districts built in a compact configuration are impacted by this transportation mode as well and often have difficulties adjusting to the new requirements. Some central districts have lost much of their former vitality and significance, to a large extent because they cannot be effectively serviced by motorcars, and other transportation means have not been provided for one reason or another. City life is quite different at the beginning of the twenty-first century than it was in the first half of the twentieth century.

Cities have never been like this before, where unprecedented distances are routinely covered by millions of workers and residents every day and houses are close enough to each other that residents can see their neighbors, but apart enough not to hear them. Even districts built during the previous eras experience the consequences of having to accommodate volumes of large machines.

The automobile made all this possible. It allowed the basic human urge to possess and control large private space (a house and a piece...