Have you been to Berlin? We have amazing public transportation network, I never had a car living here for 5 years already, and never felt I need one (at least not before the pandemic). And also coming from a country with dense housing (Russia), I really appreciate we are not sitting on each others heads here.

"Dense housing" is code for "chicken coops" with the only space people have for themselves being 40 m² for a family of four. Seriously, thanks but no thanks.

There is a middle way between US-level sprawl and Japan-style chicken coops - and I definitely hope we don't go the Japan route.

No, "dense housing" is code for multistory buildings in a mixed-use neighborhood (like you already find in many parts of the city!). It doesn't matter very much whether those apartments are 30 or 200m^2, the density is several times better than in a neighborhood of single family homes as you find them just a few km outside of Berlin's city center.

Japan style housing, just like British, is "dense" in the sense of buildings being physically close. It's not what the post is about - it's about building buildings with higher number of storeys.