Paris also has a density more than three times that of San Francisco, and we don't need to go nearly that high to solve the problems we're facing right now. The

Paris also has a density more than three times that of San Francisco, and we don't need to go nearly that high to solve the problems we're facing right now. There are a great many people who want to live in denser districts, which is evidenced by the fact that the districts with high density have the highest rents. If low-density districts were more desirable, you'd expect to see them more expensive, but the most expensive area of SF (for renting) is... FiDi. If the city were to become unpleasantly dense it would be evident in people's actual, chosen aggregate preferences. But raldi hasn't really touched on the situation, in my opinion: much of the city is not only limited by height, but by the number of units per building, usually to 2 or 3. It's not the end of the world to raise that to 8 or so.