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Yes and no. In the US, the vast majority of Americans want to own a single family home, not a condo or apartment [1]. That brings with it the necessity of perso

Yes and no. In the US, the vast majority of Americans want to own a single family home, not a condo or apartment [1]. That brings with it the necessity of personal vehicle ownership, which then compounds urban planning and traffic issues. And of course, you can't make more land near cities where people want to live, so you end up in a scarcity situation as the population grows (US population grows by over 1 million per year, whereas Japan's is shrinking - those million+ people have to live somewhere). We can say that American preferences are causing a lot of these issues, but then you have to make the argument that people shouldn't be able to get what they want. [1] https://www.builderonline.com/money/economics/80-percent-of-americans-prefer-single-family-homeownership_o https://www.builderonline.com/money/economics/80-percent-of-...

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> then you have to make the argument that people shouldn't be able to get what they want This is basically acknowledging scarcity exists. There will always be fewer places with large plots near people than people want, irrespective of the number of people.
aylmao 3y ago
> In the US, the vast majority of Americans want to own a single family home, not a condo or apartment IMO there's 2 points to consider regarding this though: One can't underestimate the fact it's illegal to build densely in a lot of the USA [1], so it isn't only preferences driving the market. Even if most people prefer single-family homes, and 50% want them to be "away from it all", there's reason to believe that the population that does want to live densely isn't being met with enough supply, and thus prices are still being artificially increased. In terms of the high preference for low density, there's the unfortunate reality that the density is better in a dense context, but that's not something many people in the USA can experience. In New York, for example, ubiquitous density has meant one can live a convenient life without owning a car. An apartment in LA has all the disadvantages of an apartment, without the advantages of a dense city. That's the perception many people who do experience apartment living might have of it. So overall, low density in the USA isn't purely preference-driven, and there's an argument to believe if more density _were_ built, preferences would change. It's worth keeping in mind. [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/18/upshot/cities-across-america-question-single-family-zoning.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/18/upshot/cities...

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> then you have to make the argument that people shouldn't be able to get what they want This is basically acknowledging scarcity exists. There will always be fewer places with large plots near people than people want, irrespective of the number of people.

aylmao 3y ago

> In the US, the vast majority of Americans want to own a single family home, not a condo or apartment IMO there's 2 points to consider regarding this though: One can't underestimate the fact it's illegal to build densely in a lot of the USA [1], so it isn't only preferences driving the market. Even if most people prefer single-family homes, and 50% want them to be "away from it all", there's reason to believe that the population that does want to live densely isn't being met with enough supply, and thus prices are still being artificially increased. In terms of the high preference for low density, there's the unfortunate reality that the density is better in a dense context, but that's not something many people in the USA can experience. In New York, for example, ubiquitous density has meant one can live a convenient life without owning a car. An apartment in LA has all the disadvantages of an apartment, without the advantages of a dense city. That's the perception many people who do experience apartment living might have of it. So overall, low density in the USA isn't purely preference-driven, and there's an argument to believe if more density _were_ built, preferences would change. It's worth keeping in mind. [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/18/upshot/cities-across-america-question-single-family-zoning.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/18/upshot/cities...