The attrition of vehicles by cities is good for cyclists and pedestrians

With surpassing brilliance Jane Jacobs advocated ‘the attrition of automobiles‘ in cities. She wrote that ‘Attrition of automobiles operates by making conditions less convenient for cars. Attrition as a steady, gradual process (something that does not now exist) would steadily decrease the numbers of persons using private automobiles in a city’.

Jacobs was the most influential writer on urban design in the second half of the twentieth century. A fierce critic of modernism as practised by highway engineers and architects, she launched the approach that is now described as postmodern. Jacobs was also a keen cyclist, see video.