The only thing that killed happy dense urbanism in the USA is 50 years of weird mortgage and highway subsidies that encouraged suburban growth even when it make

The only thing that killed happy dense urbanism in the USA is 50 years of weird mortgage and highway subsidies that encouraged suburban growth even when it makes almost no sense whatsoever, combined with a lingering Anglo anti-urbanist set of cultural assumptions. However, worldwide, the USA is the weird place, and mostly the core parts of cities are better than the rest.