One interesting thing I found comparing UK towns to Australian towns was the UK towns allowed a much higher quality of life because road and house block sizes were calibrated to walking, whereas Australian roads are all calibrated for two way car traffic and block sizes are huge. There is also an assumption that if you want to buy something you will drive to a local retail distribution point. It forces people to spend a lot more on transport to get the same lifestyle.

I'm not a fan of cars. It'd be nice if they were toys for the rich and Australian cities were built around everyone walking around or catching public transport.