I think he&#x27;s also looking at European cities with quite rose-colored glasses. There <i>are</i> nice European cites, and (perhaps more to the point) nice areas of European cities. I lived in central Copenhagen for years, and I really liked it! But they&#x27;re far from universal, and European development models also produce vast swathes of neighborhoods and housing that suck. In different ways than American suburbia, but still not somewhere you&#x27;d want to live, given the choice.<p>Example of the European equivalent of suburbia, which I&#x27;d argue is overall a less nice place to live than American suburbia: the more affordable London suburbs, or even worse, the more affordable Paris suburbs. They aren&#x27;t vibrant, quaint, walkable cities, but just huge expanses of low-quality commuter housing, with bad commutes. Realistically for many people, the European equivalent to a lower-middle-class Houston suburban house with freeway commute isn&#x27;t a nice apartment in a vibrant city center, but a small, somewhat shabby terrace house way out near Luton with a 75-minute bus+rail+tube commute into London. Compared to <i>that</i> version of Europe, the Houston suburbs don&#x27;t look all that bad.