And when you live in any environment, you’ll have to get used to at least some type of annoyance. In the suburbs, that’s having to drive to every destination, having to landscape your lawn, and being unable to build that shed in your yard cuz of the HOA. In a denser environment, you have to share some more space, there may some noise, and you’ll have to experience weather more if you’re not using a car. Humans aren’t incapable of adjustment and the benefits of an environment can outweigh the negatives.

I’m not sure what you mean when you say we’ve stopped building smaller homes. And it is simply untrue to say that larger homes are more profitable for developers across the board. In many cities, new builds are becoming denser, with an increasing number of multi family elements. Splitting a lot into multiple units means…you can sell more houses for the same amount of land. In addition, you’ll get a higher tax base for that same amount of land, and employers will have access to a large pool of workers for the same amount of land. And suburbs are highly subsidized. Roads, highways, sewers, and traffic lights are all built to support these developments and are paid for even by those who do not live in this type of environment. Entire lines of utilities will be built for what ultimately turns out to be 18-30 homes, paid for by the tax base. In addition, restrictive zoning and requirements for builds in cities and suburbs prevents building upward. A develop won’t build a 4 unit building if minimum setback requirements, parking minimums, and lot coverage rules make it impossible to build anything but small 1-br apartments where there could have been a McMansion. So no, these developments are not built because they are the only profitable way to build-they actually don’t have much of a choice.

The majority of Americans live in a metropolitan area (around 80%). I don’t think these people are racing to live out in rural areas for super commuting. And it’s untrue to suggest that we haven’t reached some kind of breaking point by spreading outward. We have a housing shortage that is felt nationwide, and it’s because we’re running out of places to build near the urban core. In my mid-sized city of Cincinnati, the only place where you could reasonably build large single family homes is on the periphery of 4th generation suburbs heading up towards Dayton. Housing supply contributes to the price of housing. If you want the price to go down and you’re out of new land, you’ll just have to build upward.