Sure but even in the absence of such ordinances they would still choose sprawl. The law is certainly not helping across the country (zoning, etc.) but the culpr

Sure but even in the absence of such ordinances they would still choose sprawl. The law is certainly not helping across the country (zoning, etc.) but the culprit is cars and infrastructure dollars going to roads and highways. If I were dictator I would stop all new road construction for 50 years and then review after that. The issue is that we have extraordinarily cheap energy so of course people are going to buy cars. Oh and gotta keep the domestic car manufacturing industry alive in case we need to build tanks. Nobody has been paying the price for global warming either - so cars are subsidized big time in that way too.