Even in walkable cities, the local government are idiots, see the San Francisco zoning map, all the good stuff exists for historical reasons, not because of masterful planning: https://sfplanning.org/sites/default/files/resources/2019-02...
This is untrue, because
> The plan exists now. Downsize your lifestyle drastically and move closer to the downtown of a major-ish city.
this is untrue.
The problem isn't a lack of alternatives, the problem is the auto industry lobbying to make alternatives illegal and spending billions to make people believe alternatives don't exist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcar_suburb
Unfortunately people equate good urban planning with this weird dystopian view of a 400sqft apartment and clothes hung out to dry and getting stabbed to death on the street instead of how Americans built in the late 1800s and early 1900s with small businesses, restaurants nearby, parks for everyone to enjoy getting out and gettin some sunshine, and other amenities.
"But it's expensive" - yes because we are market-locked into building nothing like this so scarcity drives up the prices.
This is only dystopian if this is how you view it. I live in a 600 square foot apartment and hang my clothes out to dry. The sun is free!
A 2500’ square foot house is much more dystopian to me personally.
I didn’t mean to suggest one is bad (though I think skyscrapers are an anti-pattern as well just less harmful) - just that some Americans will paint any attempts at meaningful urbanization as Hong Kong as opposed to their current size home when the reality is there isn’t a size trade off that needs to be made you just need to do more with how the suburban neighborhood is built/zoned out.
But the plan to live a walkable lifestyle exists. It’s just that people don’t want a walkable lifestyle as much as they say they do or they’d find a way to make it happen.
My dude, it is illegal in almost all of the USA.
Besides that, you missed the point about how most people don't know it's an option because they've never seen anything else. I also think you're a bit confused about the power that individuals have to determine the makeup of their neighborhood. Walkable neighborhoods are expensive because they are highly desirable and rare.
It’s just that people won’t spend a bit more to get the thing they claim they want. So it’s hard for me to believe that they really want walkable neighborhoods that badly. They want big cars, big houses, and suburbs.
For example, I’m in Portland, OR and rent a 600 square foot apartment for $1,200 a month. I can bike downtown in 20 minutes. I walk or bike everywhere and have no transportation expenses beyond bike maintenance and the occasional bus pass.
It’s just that people like to ignore that so they can avoid changing their lifestyle and put the blame on the system rather than themselves. “This would never work for me… I need… I have to… It’s too expensive…”
Or just actually pay what it costs instead of having it subsidised by uncle sam.
The plan exists now. Downsize your lifestyle drastically and move closer to the downtown of a major-ish city.
But you suggest that to anyone and it's a litany of excuses for why this just won't work for them. The truth is that either they can't or they won't. And for the vast majority of people it's just that they won't.