Sounds like they were built to be expensive then, and never really an option for everyday people

They were an option for the regular people of the time, hundreds of years ago, before the population grew an order of magnitude or two.

Markets solve these problems and that remains true even when you disagree with the results. If people don't want to visit places with tall buildings and sprawl, then it won't get built and where it does it will fail.

What actually bothers you is that this is what people want and it will get built and it will be patronized.

> What actually bothers you is that this is what people want and it will get built and it will be patronized.

Yes. It does bother me that the utility function of "the market" does not align with what is good for me, and that therefore it frequently produces results that are worse for me.

In fact this applies not just to urban development, but also to many other things.

I'll bite the bullet and say sometimes "the people" are idiots and what they want is ugly and sucks.