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“We assume that car use is an incompressible liquid that must be routed somewhere. But it’s more more like a gas that fills whatever space it is given.” —Ian Lockwood, Harvard Loeb Fellow, transport planner.

Taras Grescoe 🚇

@taras-grescoe.com

The key is not to expand the space available to cars—that produces sprawl and unwalkable, unlivable cities. When you restrict the car space, and prioritize space for more efficient modes—that’s when you discover you have space left over for living.

11/10/25, 3:36 pm27 reposts66 likes

Taras Grescoe 🚇

@taras-grescoe.com

11 Oct 2025

In terms of the liquid/gas metaphor: a physicist tells me car traffic may be most like fluid in non-equilibrium flow (b/c different lanes have different speeds, and there’s no tendency towards a steady state—except perhaps the no-movement of gridlock)