[stoppingin]

Everything in your post is just your own personal opinion.

> The problem is that these individual preferences come with enormous costs, both economic and with respect to individual freedom...

What if I don't agree with increasing the population? If I don't want to increase the number of people in the city I'm living in, then why on earth would I want urban consolidation? Does anyone actually enjoy living in a tiny apartment, as opposed to being able to afford a house with a yard? The need for endless population increase is not just some foregone conclusion. Not everyone here is an SWE living in SF, with SF problems, and SF opinions.

> In short, yes, people do have rational, coherent reasons to oppose growth, but, no, those complaints are not in the end valid.

I don't agree with your opinion. Should I just classify all of it as 'invalid'?

[tshaddox]

> What if I don't agree with increasing the population? If I don't want to increase the number of people in the city I'm living in, then why on earth would I want urban consolidation?

I’m not sure what kind of answer you’re looking for with those “what if” questions. What if you preferred that the human race go extinct? I suppose the answer to all of these “what if” questions is simply that other people will disagree with you and oppose you in various ways.

[dionidium]

> Does anyone actually enjoy living in a tiny apartment, as opposed to being able to afford a house with a yard?

In order to answer this question for yourself you need to first accept an iron law of economics: because decisions are not made in a vacuum, there is no such thing as an abstract preference, only constraints and tradeoffs.

My preference is that I have a 10,000 square foot single-family home located on an otherwise empty block of land just south of Central Park. That way I get everything great about single-family living and access to the economic and cultural superpower that is Manhattan.

But, and I mean this technically and in the kindest way possible: literally who gives a shit?

Everything in life is tradeoffs. The NIMBY position is that tradeoffs can be wished away by legislation. But they cannot. It only deranges the situation.

[KptMarchewa]

>What if I don't agree with increasing the population? If I don't want to increase the number of people in the city I'm living in, then why on earth would I want urban consolidation?

Society should ignore your whining.