Strong Towns notes that the real cost of spreading out is all the infrastructure you need to maintain. Running water? Gotta run the pipes further. Road access?

Strong Towns notes that the real cost of spreading out is all the infrastructure you need to maintain. Running water? Gotta run the pipes further. Road access? Gotta pave (and maintain) more road Power? Same thing Plus having decent response times for emergency services, quick commute to things like groceries as you mentioned. Not to mention having critical mass for a commercial district with any sort of variety within reasonable distances of each other to compete and cross-pollinate.