But that's a solvable problem. It's a chicken-and-egg problem, certainly, but if more people want to live in walkable "major downtowns", we could just, you know, build more walkable "major downtowns", not just inflate the prices of ones we already have. There's nothing really stopping us from building more cities or at least planning more suburban/exurban neighborhoods to be independently walkable and with enough amenities to be city-like other than status quo momentum and what remains of the current "American suburban dream" of single family detached homes and cars over public transportation and walking.

More like zoning laws, I was shocked at the density drop between "residential/office tower" to "single family houses" in most of the US cities. Local governments are also super worried about mixed use for some reason, they really don't want a corner store so people won't drive in the hood.

Even in walkable cities, the local government are idiots, see the San Francisco zoning map, all the good stuff exists for historical reasons, not because of masterful planning: https://sfplanning.org/sites/default/files/resources/2019-02...

In Columbus where I live there are over 200 acres of surface parking lots alone. There is plenty of space for housing. The article is probably paywalled but sometimes Reader View works -> https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2023/03/16/lots-an...

OK but “everyone” doesn’t want to do it. So take advantage of the opportunity before it skyrockets!