Venice and Fes-al-Bali prove that cars are not necessary to thriving cities. Gone are the days when neighbors encountered neighbors in a friendly, low-stress environment: the sidewalk. This is a competitive, unfriendly, high-stress environment that contributes nothing to the sustenance of our communities.

Cars and trucks can be replaced by technologies that were invented a century ago and are today fully developed: trains and street cars (trams). The comparatively few people using motor vehicles for their transport impose terrible burdens on their fellow citizens and do not even enjoy particularly fast transport due to the many other cars and trucks competing for space in the relatively narrow streets.

No technical fix is going to solve the ecological and energy problems we now face. We hardly ever hear about the alternative: living better by using less energy. The cost is actually negative - we will have more money to spend in more pleasant environments if we give up cars in cities. The countless ancient city centers in Europe have shown how delightful city life can be when cars are not permitted to intrude. The same high quality of life can be extended throughout a city simply by making modest improvements in public transport and freight delivery systems at costs that are low in comparison to building new highways.

This approach restores cities to their rightful place: the center of the human universe, where civility, beauty, and culture abound, in the commercial heart of the city. We must establish a systematic program of solving the world's problems by pushing cars out of the places they do not belong: our city streets.