"Is there a way that we can create this type of momentum and passion without the Great Trip Abroad?"
I think the pleasant college towns or tourist towns with a nice main street is one compelling way for people to understand how a different way is possible. But even then - sometime our nice little college towns lack easy access to grocers, drug stores, and a ton of other essentials. People see those places as for bars and restaurants primarily, and so they have a bit of limited value.
I think the biggest way is to center it on kids and old folks and people who can't afford cars - "shouldn't they have access to all the services they need? Do busy parents need to shuttle their kids everyhwere, can't we build a town where kids walk, like Mayberry?" I think tapping into a nostalgia for small-town America of a by-gone Happy Days era is a way to make urbanism more palatable across idealogical lines. "Kids are too coddled these days? It's because cars can kill the way we've built towns! Your grandad used to walk everywhere and he loved it! You used to bike everywhere! And then traffic got worse, roads got bigger, and it's dangerous. Let's scale it back, build more neighborhood shops to make trips easier, build more busses between neighborhoods, so not every 16 year old needs a car in order to work - since 16 year olds are TERRIBLE drivers!"
"Is there a way that we can create this type of momentum and passion without the Great Trip Abroad?"
I think the pleasant college towns or tourist towns with a nice main street is one compelling way for people to understand how a different way is possible. But even then - sometime our nice little college towns lack easy access to grocers, drug stores, and a ton of other essentials. People see those places as for bars and restaurants primarily, and so they have a bit of limited value.
I think the biggest way is to center it on kids and old folks and people who can't afford cars - "shouldn't they have access to all the services they need? Do busy parents need to shuttle their kids everyhwere, can't we build a town where kids walk, like Mayberry?" I think tapping into a nostalgia for small-town America of a by-gone Happy Days era is a way to make urbanism more palatable across idealogical lines. "Kids are too coddled these days? It's because cars can kill the way we've built towns! Your grandad used to walk everywhere and he loved it! You used to bike everywhere! And then traffic got worse, roads got bigger, and it's dangerous. Let's scale it back, build more neighborhood shops to make trips easier, build more busses between neighborhoods, so not every 16 year old needs a car in order to work - since 16 year olds are TERRIBLE drivers!"
We will have to define what walkability and urbanism looks like for American culture that is distinct for us