This is untrue. Most American cities were built before the car and even had wide streetcar networks. Buildings and (often poor and black) neighborhoods were torn down to make way for urban highways. Car manufacturers literally bought up streetcar companies just to rip out tracks and sell more cars.
Europe picked up on this trend too a little delayed in many places, but luckily not to the same degree and realized the bad direction more quickly.
I live in between-wars streetcar suburb and it is very walkable and very desirable. It is mostly single family homes, but smaller ones on smaller lots. The other differences with later suburbs are sidewalks, garage in back or none at all, which means street parking. In addition, there are shops along the major streets so there is something to walk to. Plus, it is close to transit ans to downtown and more vibrant neighborhoods.
It would be easy to build new suburbs like this but without the location. Or add features to existing suburbs.
I’ve spent time looking at a map of my city, and it’s pretty easy to see the transition. The older streetcar suburbs have streets on a grid, and alleys down the middle of every block. The post WW2 areas are all widely separated and full of cul-de-sacs, and the alleys are gone.
Walking anywhere in the older areas is easy, though a lot of the amenities like mom and pop stores are now gone. Walking anywhere in the newer areas is pretty much impossible. The streets don’t connect and there is nowhere to walk to.
Europe picked up on this trend too a little delayed in many places, but luckily not to the same degree and realized the bad direction more quickly.