We have allowed development to be driven by developers who keep selling the greenfield city-house-in-the-country illusion to the aspirational middle class. Large suburban yards, and especially large front lawns, are less-used than ever in an age of dual-careerist couples whose few children play only on screens. 

Shoebox condos are a soulless housing model that most families rightly reject. We need the "middle density" development that the author describes. Examples of such development are rare, such as the sensible little homes on modest lots built by government to house the thousands of men returning from WWII to start families. 

Allowing developers to drive development has brought us the sprawling, alienating, near-unlivable city. Higher density infill can help mitigate past mistakes. But, developers and NIMBYs will fight it all the way.