I don't like American-style suburbs, I'm not defending cars over people. I think the lack of public transportation in the US is a tragedy.

But "You must live in one of 100 identical walk-up 4-storey courtyard-facing brown brick blocks, with a limited selection of approved local community businesses, and commute or drive for anything else" seems oppressive, yeah. Some people want to live in shiny glass high rises, or pay a premium to have a private yard, or live on a busy street full of bars and clubs. We don't need to define the One True Housing for Everyone and then implement it city-wide, we could just put a few of these superblocks within cities. But Barcelona looks just as oppressive to me as endless American suburbs, though admittedly it may be more pleasant to live there.

Have you ever been to Barcelona or are you making assumptions from looking at an overhead view of the street grid? It’s one of the most pleasant and human scale cities to walk around in that exists.

There are people in those cars. I lived in the center of city for 9 years without a car and being walkable is great but you tend to end up limiting your life to a small area. Cars can enrich lives, open up opportunity and for families with small kids, make getting around more convenient. No need to be anti car to the point where cars are not an option anymore, optionality is key.