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I gladly have given up single family homes with garages and yards, in order to raise my kid in a dense city. There is nothing inherently family-unfriendly about

I gladly have given up single family homes with garages and yards, in order to raise my kid in a dense city. There is nothing inherently family-unfriendly about cities or density. You're approaching the idea from a perspective that has been tainted by a false consensus bias. If the desire for single family homes was really as pervasive as you believe, then heavily restrictive zoning that is intended to preserve SFH zones wouldn't be necessary in the slightest...you could dismantle the zoning system completely and nothing would change. It would never make financial sense to tear down single family homes and build apartments and condos if nobody wanted to live in them and everybody wanted to live in single family homes. In reality, increases in allowable density are almost always accompanied by increased actual density.

lotsofpulp 7y ago
Single family detached homes require wealth, and are an easy way to discriminate between those with well heeled families and those without. This results in school districts where children in the well heeled suburbs have greater chances of “success” than those in urban neighborhoods. Even if one doesn’t desire the actual quality of life of less dense areas, they rarely want to sacrifice the chances of their children’s future. See what is happening with NYC public education currently. Hence, the zoning requirements against high density housing is to keep certain socioeconomic classes of people out, especially as it would allow their children into the school system.