This story appears in the April 2019 issue of National Geographic magazine.
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To build the cities of the future, we must get out of our cars
Remaking healthy urban areas means repairing damage done to communities once blown apart to serve the automobile.
SHANGHAI, CHINA Near the center of this city of 24 million, China’s largest, the Yanan expressway crosses under the North-South expressway. The country has gained half a billion city dwellers since 1990—and nearly 190 million cars. “It’s truly almost incomprehensible what happened in China,” says American urban designer Peter Calthorpe, who has worked there extensively. With nearly 300 million more people expected in cities by 2030, Chinese planners say they’re changing course, prioritizing walkable streets and public transit over cars.
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