I’m an Aussie, and after living 3 months in LA I think it was the most poorly designed city I’ve ever been to for this exact reason - I felt unable to walk practically anywhere!
It felt like my options were drive or taxi. And we know what LA traffic is like.
I can’t speak to other US cities, and it is possible that certain areas of LA are less terrible than where I stayed. (But I will say, I was in quite an affluent area which had no business being unwalkable and without public transport).
But it really opened my eyes to how good we have it in Australian cities (which themselves are still far behind many European cities).
It felt like my options were drive or taxi. And we know what LA traffic is like.
I can’t speak to other US cities, and it is possible that certain areas of LA are less terrible than where I stayed. (But I will say, I was in quite an affluent area which had no business being unwalkable and without public transport).
But it really opened my eyes to how good we have it in Australian cities (which themselves are still far behind many European cities).