The case for making New York and San Francisco much, much bigger
The biggest problem with density is <i>_cost_</i>. Even if we &quot;liberalize housing regulations&quot;, density in America still means housing prices 2x-4x higher than current averages.<p>Wages can&#x27;t support that -- most people can barely afford housing today as it is. Even higher tech industry wages can&#x27;t support that in many places. (Even in my small-town-Midwest city, tech wages don&#x27;t cover &quot;downtown&quot; cost of living)<p>Until we get serious about planning density for people <i>who work for a living</i>, this problem will only get worse. If you just let cities get bigger on their own with &quot;less regulations&quot;, developers will build cities full of penthouses (as they do today). Sure, millionaires will save some cash, but 99% of the population will still forever be priced out, and therefore be driving in from elsewhere