[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.