this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
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Oh yes, there's definitely a political element to it, driven (no pun intended) by business desires. I just read on Lemmy today that Michelin Tire Company started reviewing restaurants and awarding stars hoping to motivate people to drive further for culinary experiences. Driving further meant more wear on their tires, and thus more profit. That's the kind of genius marketing plan that I don't see very often today, and is a great example of those business influences at work.
Some more fun anecdotes relating to car dependency.
In the US, one very well-known city planner would deliberately build overpasses too low for buses to go under them on routes to the beach, to prevent poor people (read: black people) from being able to go to the beach.
The notion of "jaywalking" is also invented whole-cloth by the car industry. Prior to that, streets were a place that people could walk or ride safely, cross wherever the want, or even just hang out and maybe just get out of the way if someone wants to get by. A "jay" was an insult sort of like "loser".
Their older history is not a significant factor in European cities being more walkable/cyclable. In fact, thanks to the impact of WWII, many European cities had to be rebuilt and are those in some ways younger than significant American, Canadian, and Australian cities. The Netherlands, often the posterchild of walkability and cyclability, was heading very much in the same direction as the US in the post-war period, up until the Stop de Kindermoord movement of the 1970s started a versal of that trend. And even then, it wasn't a complete 180. Government votes supportive of stopping the child murder only barely won out over car-dependency, and many local businesses and entrenched interests were just as staunchly opposed to improved design in the Netherlands as they so often are today in places like America and Australia.
It's definitely possible for car-dependent cities and countries to improve. It just requires people supportive of change to speak up. Convince others to also be supportive. Most importantly, contact your representatives and vote for people who can be convinced to do better.
I'd heard the Michelin story repeated a couple of times by a friend, and it sort of checks out. The Michelin Guide was originally more a general guide for French motorists in 1900, to increase said demand for driving and therefore their tires, although when the restaurant section became more popular, they started hiring anonymous reviewers in the 20s and then eventually awarding stars about 30 years after the initial publication.
1 star : "A very good restaurant in its category" (Une très bonne table dans sa catégorie) 2 stars : "Excellent cooking, worth a detour" (Table excellente, mérite un détour) 3 stars : "Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey" (Une des meilleures tables, vaut le voyage)
So it's not as if it was a masterminded plan, a decent marketing tool just sort of evolved into a restaurant reviewing guide.