[elric]

Living in apartments is disrespectful to humanity? Yikes. Living on the street or in slums is disrespectful to humanity. Author has some messed up priorities.

What we should, of course, be aiming for is the Goldilocks zone of density. Not too tall, not too wide, but just right.

There are diminishing returns with very tall buildings, everything becomes harder and more expensive (lifts, piping water against gravity, etc). Very tall buildings also have negative effects on the surrounding area (stealing daylight, inducing strong wind). But sprawl has its own set of negatives.

It's not all that hard to aim for something in between, something that aims for maximizing the benefits while minimizing the downsides.

Sadly many apartment buildings (of any height) seem to be designed by stingy idiots. Oppressively low ceilings, paper thin walls, no thought given to soundproofing. There is certainly room for improvement...