I don't think they are at odds with each other. A city not being able to easily sprawl into the surrounding farmlands, as they have historically done, puts incr

I don't think they are at odds with each other. A city not being able to easily sprawl into the surrounding farmlands, as they have historically done, puts increased pressure in the city centre. Maybe you prefer the city centre, but if you could build a new home in the suburbs for pennies on the dollar, it would be hard to pass up. But when building that suburban home costs just as much then there is little reason to compromise. There is still a lot of sprawl happening, to be sure. But when competing for use, you're going to pay a lot more, which in turn drives up the cost in the city centre. Prior to 2007 when food commodities first started going nuts farmland was significantly less valuable. Cities don't stand as islands. They exist within a much larger world.