Description: "America's dependency on the automobile began with the 1908 introduction of Henry Ford's car-for-everyone, the Model T. The "battle for right-of-way" in the 1920s saw the demise of streetcars and transformed America's streets from a multiuse resource for socializing, commerce, and public mobility into exclusive arteries for private automobiles. The subsequent destruction of urban transit systems and post WWII suburbanization of America enabled by the Interstate Highway System and the GI Bill forever changed the way Americans commuted. But today, for the first time in history, and after a hundred years of steady increase, automobile driving is in decline. This isn't a consequence of higher gas prices, or even the economic downturn, but rather a collective decision to be a lot less dependent on cars--and if American cities want to keep their younger populations, they need to plan accordingly."--
Review Quotes: "Equal parts transportation-planning compendium, autobiography and love letter to New York City, Street Smart lays out Sam Schwartz's vision for the future of multimodal and multinodal transportation systems.... Touching on everything from the rise of the automobile and the decline and resurrection of streetcars to traffic calming, ride-sharing and the advent of driverless cars, Schwartz combines an engineer's precise logic with broader societal and cultural considerations--and plenty of wry Brooklyn humor--to provide an engaging examination of once and future urban transportation trends." --Engineering News-Record
"Nobody is more qualified to write a book about transportation than Schwartz." --City Journal "A delightful new book." --Michael Sorkin, The Nation "An engaging trip down memory lane, where trolleys and pedestrians and bicycles intersect and collide with cars in what Schwartz calls 'an accident of history, ' replete with a promising path toward a multi-modal urban revival." --MoveNY "Schwartz sees the writing on the asphalt, even if the federal government, intent on building ever more highways, does not. The future isn't on four wheels. If you want your area to attract young people, entrepreneurs, and capital, you have to make it walkable." --Downtown Express