Am Canadian. From what I gather they’re pretty similar. We have the same scenario of lots of land, cheap energy, (relatively) young cities that could change to be car dependant as they grew. So lots of big houses, big stores, etc.
The differences: I don’t think our inner cities hollowed out with white flight, don’t have as much segregation (it’s actually quite the melting pot), while we have plenty of car dependency I don’t think it’s quite as bad as the US.
We have more progressive things like universal healthcare, decent public education. The US really seems intent on not having those because, as I see it, they don’t want black people to have it.
Look at pictures of the freeways of most US cities, it’s far, far beyond what we have.
With the exception of certain cities like NYC, from what I hear US transit barely exists or exists in a token form that’s not really usable. We can complain ours isn’t good enough but it’s certainly there. It’s hard to tell because the complaining sounds the same, but I’ve come to conclude the US transit is far worse.
Really not what I meant. I mean you don’t chase after happiness with purchases. You know how like people chase after happiness with alcohol, drugs, etc. These things won’t make you happy, you have to find happiness in life at a more fundamental level.