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> Horse poo covering streets is not particularly friendly to the environment.

Most people did not own horses, especially not in cities.

They were generally limited to farmers, businesses (to draw carts/carriages), and the rich (Gilded Age).

For most of history most humans walked to their destination on a day-to-day basis. This changed slightly with the invention of rail roads and later bicycles. The automobile didn't go mainstream until roughly the 1920s:

* https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262516129/fighting-traffic/

Look at any pre-WW2 development and you'll see neighbourhoods built for human scale:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcar_suburb

Design things 'properly' and neither cars, nor horse-drawn carriages, are needed by people for most of their daily tasks. This is evidence by the fact that humans lived like that for centuries just fine.



Huh, humans live for centuries in caves also just fine. I don't know why cities, streets and bicycles are needed.


> Huh, humans live for centuries in caves also just fine.

Less draft-y, better control temperature, and indoor plumbing with modern building science.

> I don't know why cities, streets and bicycles are needed.

Cities have less environmental impact, streets offer easier movement, and bicycles are probably the most efficient way of a human being moving.

I'm not sure how designing communities where private automobiles are a necessity improved upon communities where they are optional nice-to-haves.




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