Normal, walkable streets are under attack in Celebration, Florida. The battle threatens your neighborhood, wherever you live.

Even in the vast American drivable urban landscape, families can figure out how to do without a car—walking and biking to meet every personal need. Here’s how it’s done and you can do it, too.

Of the four types of recovery facing America cities and towns—disaster, sprawl, disinvestment, and the recovery of community for those fleeing climate change—the recovery of places from serious disinvestment arguably gets the least amount of press...