Arizona, part II- parking lots and empty bike paths

I'm struck by the car scale of Arizona, not the human scale. I had to get some cold medicine and walked a mile to a Walmart. Photo of the parking lot below... vast, mostly empty, surrounded by immense soul-less box stores. This is just such a harsh juxtaposition to having been on my own feet or public transportation for 2 months. 

At another time, some of the folks at my project meeting and I took a walk to the nearby Salt River. Also struck by their efforts to build a "river walk"-- but we had to navigate another immense parking lot to find its obscure entrance. While a lovely bike path, the contrast with the incredibly busy bike paths in Stockholm are noticeable.

How do we redesign our U.S. cities to work for people, not cars?