Quote Originally Posted by OakLeaf View Post
I don't have an answer, but in thinking about it, I'm realizing that living where a car is necessary is not only poor planning for the planet, it's poor planning for our personal future.

I honestly don't expect my Florida home to be above water by the time I'm no longer able to drive. Even so, as a healthy middle-aged adult it would be very easy to forego a car here. But if and when my eyesight, reflexes and/or judgment no longer allow me to drive a car, I won't be able to ride a bicycle here safely either, and public transit is minimal. Where we live in Ohio it would be EXTREMELY difficult to go without a car, and it would definitely require a high level of physical and mental fitness.

So... can we take this thread in a slightly different direction? Who lives someplace, or knows of a place, with good public transit and access to a variety of physical necessities, arts, services and social activities, where someone could live without a motor vehicle, without being terribly isolated and deprived? WHERE will we go when we stop driving?

I nominate D.C. off DuPont Circle where my grandmother lived for several years. (Just a few miles from the house where she'd lived for decades.) It always seemed like a terrific place to live at any age. Where else?
I nominate Portland. Even if you live in the outlying areas like Hillsboro - it is still totally possible to get where you need to go by light rail or walking (depending on where you live) and downtown Portland is only an easy 40 minute ride. Plus, TE is here...so there's that.

Actually, I have never really thought about my own time to give up driving. I fully assume that everyone will be car-free by then - there won't be anymore oil so the age of cheap fuel will be well over with... I do worry about my parents though. They are both fiercely independent (but still in their 60's, so there's plenty of time) and live in a place where biking or walking is taking your life into your hands once outside their neighborhood/club area. Even when I visit, I won't ride a bike there - too fricken dangerous! I hope that changes sometime in the next 20 years so that they will have options when the time comes.