> In Japan, for example, roads are abandoned due to lack of use. A trend that seems to be happening in other countries such as China and Korea.
From what I saw on my recent travels in Japan, I'd suggest it was more a case of government vanity projects, local government corruption/desire to spend budgets and other mismanagement that resulted in over-engineered roads being put in places where there was clearly a very low population density.
The same was true of lovely new concrete/granite boardwalks and cycle paths on some of the remote islands in Okinawa Prefecture that were overgrown with vegetation and were impenetrable by bicycle (and almost impassible on foot).
Similarly new roads are being built on some of those islands given that there is noticeable traffic congestion.
I'm literally talking about when people have been told to move away from villages as the roads will no longer be maintained year round. This includes snow clearing in winter.
There just isn't the population to support it all.
Is this true ? I can already see things like working from home, e bikes and drone delivery significantly reducing the need for roads.
In Japan, for example, roads are abandoned due to lack of use. A trend that seems to be happening in other countries such as China and Korea.
Aside from this, I love this article and I feel it’s really important to consider his arguments.