[bryanmgreen]

So we can live in reasonably priced and comfortably sized spaces without cultural or income sacrifices.

Right now density is as you describe > a metric for progress. But that's old fashioned. Living in a $3,000 closet in SF or NYC in a building with 100 other closets shouldn't have to be a near-requirement to work for an exciting company or enjoy your time off in an exciting place.

I like to think this modern world has enough intelligence to improve our antiquated and slow modes of transportation. We've done it for communication.

[mikraig]

I think if anything, the suburbs/exurbs are what is preventing what you're describing.

Right now it's too costly to blanket a city with public transportation, for example, because the density isn't there. The same issue happened when electricity was invented, and when the telephone was invented - to build the infrastructure in less dense areas, the taxpayer had to subsidize.

Houston and LA have worse air quality and worse traffic than NYC does, despite having less than half the population. Yes, NYC and SF are very expensive, and they also happen to have very strict zoning laws that prevent the suburbs from adding density.