There are ways to do this, but it requires adopting patterns that drivers tend to object to.

For example, you could block or reduce car traffic on arterial highways, replacing them with regular buses or trains. As someone living in a suburb, you can still get into the city, but you have to leave your car at the park & ride. There are no (private) cars in the city anymore. This looks a lot of the motivation for driving at all: the traffic will be brutal, and you still have to take transit from the periphery to your destination.

Your shitty suburb is still a shitty suburb, but the lion’s share of car use is now gone.

Next you start designating areas of these towns car-free and requiring drivers (including residents!) to leave their cars at the periphery. Transit, cabs, bikes, e-mobility, delivery trucks, etc. are all permitted, but no private cars. Routes in and out of this zone should also prioritise transit.

As density improves, you scale out the car-free zones and close /repurpose the Walmarts.

Combine the above with high carbon taxes that you in turn use to subsidise transit/e-bikes and rebate poorer people, and you have a reasonable system for a transition.

If you’re the kind of person who needs a car, you can always walk/transit out of the car-free zone and leave town, or even live on the outskirts. The key is that this should be appropriately priced and your car stops where the people start.