[cyberax]

Zoning is about 100 years old, and it's not the reason Manhattan doesn't have enough groceries. And ultimately, market forces almost always win over regulations.

Reformulate the question: why do people tolerate living in dense tiny apartments, without easy access to necessities like childcare and grocery stores?

[snake42]

Manhattan doesn't have enough groceries? Do you have a source for that? Everywhere in the city I go has plenty of grocery stores.

[chongli]

You don't need tiny apartments to have density. You can do it with smaller single-family houses on smaller lots, narrow one-way streets, and alleyways for parking instead of driveways and garages. This is how the pre-war streetcar suburb of Riverdale, Toronto is designed [1] and it has much higher density than the rest of the city.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWsGBRdK2N0

[cyberax]

> You don't need tiny apartments to have density.

Sure, it starts with "just do row houses" and "missing middle" and in two generations it becomes "we should allow SROs".

> [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWsGBRdK2N0

That's a propaganda channel that "conveniently" ignores everything against their narrative.

These kinds of density still require cars. Unless you want to have a stay-at-home spouse who can do full-time housekeeper duty (like in that Toronto neighborhood).