Imag­ine the val­ue of a car that, thanks to an exclu­sive mul­ti-year part­ner­ship, autonomous­ly dri­ves past Dunkin’ Donuts and heads straight for Star­bucks when you say, ​“Leaf, get me a cof­fee.” Or, a car in which Nis­san Pay replaces Sam­sung Pay or Apple Pay and takes a piece of the action.

How the high­way destroyed the city in order to save it. Excerpt­ed from City by City: Dis­patch­es from the Amer­i­can Metrop­o­lis ed. Kei­th Gessen and Stephen Squibb.