In 2020, more than 6,500 people were struck and killed while walking in the country.

A new report by Smart Growth America lays most of the blame on roadways.

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“Our nation’s streets are dangerous by design, designed primarily to move cars quickly at the expense of keeping everyone safe,” the study authors wrote.

The campaigners have called for streets to be redesigned for pedestrian safety.

A new AI experiment imagines the possibilities.

US-19, “the deadliest road in America” (New Port Richey, Florida) pic.twitter.com/dZRsaALn83

— AI-generated street transformations (@betterstreetsai) July 27, 2022

The project is the brainchild of Zach Katz, a Brooklyn-based artist.

Katz had been playing around with the DALL-E 2 image generator. After feeding Google Street View images to the system, Katz believed the outputs could effect real changes.

“I thought it was really cool, what it was spitting out, and I was kind of blown away at the transformative potential it has for helping people envision better cities,” he told Bloomberg News. 

But are they better than than the existing designs? You can judge that for yourself:

The BQE (Brooklyn, NY) pic.twitter.com/o1laD77cKn

— AI-generated street transformations (@betterstreetsai) July 25, 2022

Walnut Street (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) pic.twitter.com/XzEtxBVbe7

— AI-generated street transformations (@betterstreetsai) August 1, 2022

E Brady St (Milwaukee, WI) pic.twitter.com/6HuLYOjnLl

— AI-generated street transformations (@betterstreetsai) July 25, 2022

Kalākaua Ave (Honolulu, Hawaii) pic.twitter.com/D6EstzHqx9

— AI-generated street transformations (@betterstreetsai) August 3, 2022

Cabrillo Freeway (San Diego, California) pic.twitter.com/4hs9RVELwT

— AI-generated street transformations (@betterstreetsai) July 29, 2022

Newbury Street (Boston, MA) pic.twitter.com/4kXF3qBzQX

— AI-generated street transformations (@betterstreetsai) July 26, 2022

Pike Place Market (Seattle, Washington) pic.twitter.com/gD7a0bO7wm

— AI-generated street transformations (@betterstreetsai) July 30, 2022

6th Street Viaduct (Los Angeles, CA) pic.twitter.com/7JwwlpcjPy

— AI-generated street transformations (@betterstreetsai) July 25, 2022

Katz hopes that the project shows encourages liveable streets advocacy. With luck, it might end some love affairs with cars.