If we stop building free parking (or rather requiring it, as most city and town codes require) and stop subsidizing roads and car travel, this issue would naturally sort itself out. Most people are car dependent because our government policies have made it so. If people had to pay the actual cost of parking, the upkeep of roads, gas, etc. it would be less palatable to drive a car everywhere.
Of course our country is overrun by cars, including our cities. The government has enacted policies that encourage car driving above other transportation means. This in turn has encouraged suburbanization, which, as you point out, generally requires a car-centric lifestyle.
There is nothing wrong with suburbanization, but we wouldn't have nearly the extent of suburbs that we have now if all transportation options were on equal footing. And it shouldn't be the governments job to make car travel so cheap that people buy large, cheap houses in the middle of nowhere.
This also ignores all the other costs of car-centric living such as increased risks for obesity, heart disease, depression, etc. If you live in a walkable area, you naturally walk a lot more and get daily exercise. The idea that you would need to go to a gym to get exercise in your daily life is one of the reasons that Americans are becoming so unhealthy.
Of course our country is overrun by cars, including our cities. The government has enacted policies that encourage car driving above other transportation means. This in turn has encouraged suburbanization, which, as you point out, generally requires a car-centric lifestyle.
There is nothing wrong with suburbanization, but we wouldn't have nearly the extent of suburbs that we have now if all transportation options were on equal footing. And it shouldn't be the governments job to make car travel so cheap that people buy large, cheap houses in the middle of nowhere.
This also ignores all the other costs of car-centric living such as increased risks for obesity, heart disease, depression, etc. If you live in a walkable area, you naturally walk a lot more and get daily exercise. The idea that you would need to go to a gym to get exercise in your daily life is one of the reasons that Americans are becoming so unhealthy.