> immense popularity of the quiet suburb I get what you are saying, but there is so much more going on that makes them "popular", particular in the United Stat

> immense popularity of the quiet suburb I get what you are saying, but there is so much more going on that makes them "popular", particular in the United States. Firstly, is the cost of living in the suburbs is massively subsidized. In the coming decades this will become readily apparent as most of suburban America will not be able to afford its infrastructure. It is already starting to happen. Secondly, the suburbs in America are often the only legal way to build. We've outlawed density in most of the country. Many of the most urban parts of our major cities are less dense than they were a few decades ago because of zoning changes. Thirdly, we simply do not have good public transit. You may think that New York or Chicago have great public transit but they have substantially less per-capita ridership compared to many other equivalent cities. I'd suggest looking to other parts of the world as examples of immensely popular dense development. In Asia, Tokyo, Singapore, many cities in China and across Europe are great examples of this. The U.S. is an aberration - not the rule.