Most of Europe’s cities were not designed for cars. Their streets were once a place for a host of varied human activities: working, trading, socialising, playing. Getting from A to B, other than on foot, was a small part of the mix.
The arrival of the car in large numbers on European roads ended that in the 1950s. Streets were now for traffic, which must reach its destination as fast as possible … and have somewhere to park once it gets there. Cities changed, radically.
