Many people in the western world consume half their lives, three-quarters of their energy and 99% of their emotions in travelling, without once using their legs and, arguably, without ever really getting anywhere; and no one seems to stop for long enough to ask why. 'The pedestrian remains the largest single obstacle to free traffic movement,' a Los Angeles planning officer reportedly once said. It's an attitude which typifies 20th-century urban planning in the western world and goes a long way towards explaining why so many cities are dominated by cars. The inevitable result is a world where the motor car rules supreme; one with cities hemmed in by ring roads and flyovers, with sprawling suburbs where nobody walks and residents must drive endless kilometres for work or nourishment. In such an environment, children no longer play outside their houses or walk to school; people no longer stroll along the street or stand outside talking to the neighbours. Pedestrians have all but disappeared from the streets — and walking from the culture. Moreover, people seem to live in complete awe of the device to which they have surrendered their lives, despite knowing that it denies them the clean air, peace and quiet and a pleasant living environment they claim to value so highly. It must have something to do with the fact that, once inside, they enjoy the unreal sense of power that comes from a complete surrender to mechanism. For although I'm not alone in regarding the car as a fearsome engine of destruction, nobody seems prepared to give it up.