To support a business (as employees or patrons), there needs to be a certain amount of people visiting. This number doesn’t evenly fit into a 1mi radius if everyone is on a 0.25-acre lot. So the radius expands, which means you can no longer walk; but public transit follows similar rules to businesses, there needs to be a certain ridership to make it make sense, which means we’re now primarily using personal transportation. Which is fine, bikes are fine, but we both know it’s going to be cars. Which means parking at both ends, inflating the distances further… so it’s a 15-minute-drive instead of a 5-minute walk to the nearest grocery store because the density just is not there.
You can’t make something that’s far away from other people and yet close to the things that need people to continue existing.
Yes, we should, but it's incredibly hard to get people (and employers) to move to some place that isn't established. And usually the locations where there is establishment have a good reason that they were located there and not where you are trying to move it to.
You can’t make something that’s far away from other people and yet close to the things that need people to continue existing.