While writing up my last piece on the shrinking of city sidewalks, I remembered an image I thought perfectly illustrated the concept.

But despite my best search attempts, I just couldn’t find it, so I published without it. But that brain itch persisted, so I did what any terminally online person would: I asked on Mastodon:

🙋🏽‍♂️Taking a shot…. 

There's an image, maybe a New Yorker cover or in that style, that shows a city street view from above, with a tiny strip of space for the sidewalk, crosswalk, and pedestrians, and a large void in the center that would be dedicated to cars.

I can't seem to find a copy; my Google/DDG fu is weak here (or perhaps I imagined the image).

If you can boost so the right folks see this, I'd be grateful! 🙏🏽

#pedestrians #carfree

Less than four hours later, I had my answer from Kris Arnold:

@JasonAnthonyGuy something like this?

with a link to a 2014 Vox article about the image I had in my head. It wasn’t in fact a New Yorker cover, but a commissioned illustration by Swedish artist Karl Jilg for the Swedish Road Administration.

This brilliant illustration shows how much public space we’ve surrendered to cars

Vox is a general interest news site for the 21st century. Its mission: to help everyone understand our complicated world, so that we can all help shape it. In text, video and audio, our reporters explain politics, policy, world affairs, technology, culture, science, the climate crisis, money, health and everything else that matters. Our goal is to ensure that everyone, regardless of income or status, can access accurate information that empowers them.

VoxJoseph Stromberg

My thanks to Kris; I would have been scratching that brain itch all day.