I&#x27;d argue that trying to build widespread mass transit in America <i>today</i> is what&#x27;s bone-headed.  The road infrastructure already exists and connects just about every town in the US.  Electric cars will solve the fuel efficiency issue to a large degree, and self-driving cars will fix congestion and safety.<p>I can&#x27;t believe some of the outrageous stuff this Kuntsler guy says:<p>&gt;<i>We have about, you know, 38,000 places that are not worth caring about in the United States today. When we have enough of them, we&#x27;re going to have a nation that&#x27;s not worth defending. And I want you to think about that when you think about those young men and women who are over in places like Iraq, spilling their blood in the sand, and ask yourself, &quot;What is their last thought of home?&quot; I hope it&#x27;s not the curb cut between the Chuck E. Cheese and the Target store because that&#x27;s not good enough for Americans to be spilling their blood for. (Applause) We need better places in this country.</i><p>Really? We have a lot worth fighting for, and it&#x27;s not any physical city, nor should it be.  Rather, it&#x27;s the 300 million people that call this place home, your family and friends among them. It&#x27;s the idea--the reality--of mankind living in freedom, of opportunity for all, of equal justice before the law, of the dignity of the individual.<p>&gt;<i>We are entering an epochal period of change in the world, and -- certainly in America -- the period that will be characterized by the end of the cheap oil era. It is going to change absolutely everything. [...] We&#x27;re not going to be rescued by the hyper-car; we&#x27;re not going to be rescued by alternative fuels. No amount or combination of alternative fuels is going to allow us to continue running what we&#x27;re running, the way we&#x27;re running it.</i><p>This guy is just plain wrong.  There&#x27;s no reason why plug-in electrics, and a power grid running on nuclear &amp; renewables, can&#x27;t replace our current reliance on oil and internal combustion engines.<p>I&#x27;ve lived in suburbs and in cities, and my take is that the current zeitgeist (that suburbs are evil) is way off the mark.  In suburbia, I had boundless privacy and freedom in my home. In the city, I can&#x27;t play my speakers loud without getting a noise complaint.  In suburbia, I could hop in my car and go wherever I want whenever I want.  In the city, parking is expensive and public transit is not fun. I have to take several buses, at particular bus stops, at particular times.  My door to door morning commute is twice as long by bus as by car.  In suburbia, I might have heard a few cars passing by at night, or the occasional loud outdoor party. In the city, I have to choose between burning alive and trying to sleep to the tune of my neighbors&#x27; loud conversation on their balcony.  There&#x27;s a lot of great things about the city too--I choose to live in one!  Different strokes for different folks.  Or even the same folks at different points in their lives.