The cities where I live where obviously designed for cars, are there any proposals on how to transition cities built to favour cars over to other forms of transportation or examples of cities that have done so? I know it’s probably possible but my imagination is limited.
IMO, you can start by reserving lanes in a street for transit. A dedicated bus lane in each direction is dead simple to implement, and goes a long way to making the bus service both faster and more punctual, especially when combined with reactive traffic lights that automatically prioritize busses (knows when a bus is approaching the intersection and always turns the light green for it). After that, you can start thinking about converting those lanes into light rail.
For a wide street, like a six lane highway or larger, you’d probably want to reserve the centre lanes and put the platforms on the centre island (or if there’s no island or too narrow an island, reserve three or four lanes, use two for tracks and either the centre or side spaces for the platforms). That way, once car use on that street drops off, you can eliminate lanes to the sides and convert them into green space, and/or paths for pedestrians and bikes. There are also a few advantages with running busses and trains on the centre lanes, such as you have a wider turning radius, and you won’t get cut off by cars turning right.