In Europe people go to the park to have solitude with nature and go home to interact with people [on the street by the house].
In the US people go to the park to interact with people, and go home to have solitude [hopefully with nature in their backyard, but even if not they want a quiet apartment without lots of people near them, or at least the illusion of it].
Some people prefer the US way, some the European way. But you have to build the city to match what people want.
The European way, in many ways, was a consequence of geography and, to a lesser degree, climate.
The US is a car-centric culture that is fueled by (relatively) cheap gasoline (energy prices).
Take for instance shopping malls. Shopping malls in Asia (usually in urban centers) build up vertically while in the United States they are build out horizontally with acres and acres of parking spaces.
Some of the best US cities have European-like features (NYC with Central Park and its other parks like Union Square, Tompkins Square, traffic shut down on some streets or at least seating that takes up part of the street).
> Some of the best US cities have European-like features
Careful with calling it "best". Not everyone likes that kind of thing in a city.
I don't. I hate those types of cities, I feel very stressed and oppressed ("squished" if you get what I mean) when I go to cities designed in that way. I can handle it for a visit, but I would never want to live there.
Different people like different things, that's why we have a variety of cities in the US, you can live in a place that matches what you like. But don't call it "best" just because it happens to be what you like.
The problem is we don't allow a variety of cities anymore. We have effectively outlawed the denser European-style cities. The only ones that exist are those that are old enough to be grandfathered in.
Your point about cars is well-made. European cities, by and large, predate the automobile. Most american cities do not. Indeed all the dense cities and parts of cities predate the gasoline engine. Compare Vegas and San Francisco or Brooklyn and Stamford, CT. Very different density since Brooklyn mostly predates cars and Stamford's population exploded in the late 40s to mid-late 70s as a NYC well-to-do white suburb (95% white in 1950.)
In the US people go to the park to interact with people, and go home to have solitude [hopefully with nature in their backyard, but even if not they want a quiet apartment without lots of people near them, or at least the illusion of it].
Some people prefer the US way, some the European way. But you have to build the city to match what people want.
The ugly urban cities are a result of a mismatch.