I think you make some good points about the "pod" issue and yes, that is a problem to the use of everything but cars and most public transit. When it comes to public transit, it most definitely is a density issue, as higher density means it's more cost-effective.
The steps to fixing this for me are:
Allow the kind of upzoning that California does. A lot of young people, I think, like myself already live in single-family homes with housemates not in our family. It would make a lot of sense, to me, to convert our arrangement into a fourplex to allow some more privacy. So density is actually increasing anyway, despite the fact we still mainly have single-family homes. So allowing the construction of duplexes, fourplexes, and things like cottage courts over the next couple of decades I think can bring about quite a few changes. In areas where a lot of this happens, we will at least see more public transit become viable.
The next step would be to allow small shops to start opening in neighborhoods that people can walk to. It can be advertised as being for convenience and helping to build a community, creating a village. These "pods" would become villages, in effect, and biking will become quite viable. There can still be big box stores further away, but with increased density public transit will definitely be more of an option.
That is my thinking on this matter after looking at a bunch of different resources and looking at the concerns of suburbanites.
I think you make some good points about the "pod" issue and yes, that is a problem to the use of everything but cars and most public transit. When it comes to public transit, it most definitely is a density issue, as higher density means it's more cost-effective.
The steps to fixing this for me are:
Allow the kind of upzoning that California does. A lot of young people, I think, like myself already live in single-family homes with housemates not in our family. It would make a lot of sense, to me, to convert our arrangement into a fourplex to allow some more privacy. So density is actually increasing anyway, despite the fact we still mainly have single-family homes. So allowing the construction of duplexes, fourplexes, and things like cottage courts over the next couple of decades I think can bring about quite a few changes. In areas where a lot of this happens, we will at least see more public transit become viable.
The next step would be to allow small shops to start opening in neighborhoods that people can walk to. It can be advertised as being for convenience and helping to build a community, creating a village. These "pods" would become villages, in effect, and biking will become quite viable. There can still be big box stores further away, but with increased density public transit will definitely be more of an option.
That is my thinking on this matter after looking at a bunch of different resources and looking at the concerns of suburbanites.