Car-centric designs for cities makes living in cities worse, _even for people who like cars_.
The thesis of Strong Towns isn't that we should ban cars, it's that we should stop _subsidizing_ something that we know is bad for us (in economic terms, health terms, quality-of-life terms, and in ecological terms)
It's worth noting that although Dutch infrastructure puts a lot of effort into different modes of transport, especially bikes, it's also excellent for cars. Dutch car drivers often complain about poor road quality in neighbouring countries like Germany and Belgium. There's also a lot of innovation here on smoothing traffic flow, removing traffic lights where possible, and many other things that I'm sure car drivers love.
And if you care about well-maintained roads, it helps if your roads are actually maintainable, and for that, it helps if they're efficient and well-designed. I've read a lot about the poor state of infrastructure in the US, and agree with calls to invest more in infrastructure, but it's been Strong Towns, NJB and similar channels that made me realise why US infrastructure is struggling: it's inefficiently designed, making it way too expensive to maintain. The entire past 70 years of US suburban development is apparently build on massive amounts of debt, which has sent several cities into bankruptcy. If you don't want your cities to go bankrupt, you need more efficient infrastructure. And stroads are clearly not that.
In fact, they shared a video just three weeks ago about how non-car-centered cities are _better_ to drive in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8RRE2rDw4k
Car-centric designs for cities makes living in cities worse, _even for people who like cars_.
The thesis of Strong Towns isn't that we should ban cars, it's that we should stop _subsidizing_ something that we know is bad for us (in economic terms, health terms, quality-of-life terms, and in ecological terms)