Apples to walnuts would be if I compared a Norwegian bike to an American house, but I didn't. I was compare an American suburb to a Norwegian suburb. They serve exactly the same function in each country. Hence apples to apples.
Of course Norway is different from the US. Of course people are different. But that applies to every country. Norwegians are different from Japanese people. Japanese people are different Australians.
But people might still be interested in learning about e.g. how a Japanese neighbourhood is different from an Australian one. Or maybe how Chinese apartment is different form a Korean one.
Many Americans and Europeans alike don't know or understand the difference between how American and European cities are built differently. And there are even vast difference within Europe. E.g. I am also doing a comparison of American and Dutch neighborhoods. Here you will find other differences than with a Norwegian neighbourhood: https://erik-engheim.medium.com/american-sprawl-and-dutch-neighborhoods-7052cbb49a95
I am afraid I didn't quite understand some of your other comments. Are you saying a Norwegian style development would consume 20x the area of an American style development?
That must be a misunderstanding in my reading. American cities are generally more spread out than Norwegian ones. Boston which looks a little bit like Oslo has density of 800 people per km2. Oslo has around 1500 per km2. That almost twice as dense.
If you like being dependent on using a car for everything, then good for you. American cities are great for driving. Perhaps the best cities you can find anywhere on the planet for driving.
The article is not so much about what is objectively better than the other. There are tradeoffs to different city designs. I am simply clarifying why I personally don't like living in American cities.
And over the years interacting with countless Americans I have also come to realize that there are a lot of Americans who are also not happy with how American cities are organized. They feel something is missing. They want change, but they don't always know what that change should look like.
Hopefully some of the articles I write about urban planning in different countries could inspire them. Make them think through how they would like their city to look. It is not like America is standing still. Over the years there are been development of new urban trends. Many young Americans want vibrant urban spaces which have more in common with European cities. Or maybe even Asian or Latin American. I have not spent enough time utside of Europe and the US to understand city planning elsewhere.
