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[meadowlander]

23. Some, but not all might choose to live there.

Some people want to have a garden so they can grow some of their own food. Some people want a yard so they can have a larger dog or a safe place for the kids to play when they are crawling up the walls. Some peoples' work places aren't urban and they want to live closer to them. Some people don't want to listen to their neighbours thumping on the walls or shouting in the stairwells or listening to the TV or music cranked up too loud. During Covid there was a massive flight out of cities for people who realised they could work at home and didn't need to be cooped up in a tiny apartment in a city during a pandemic. My suburban house almost doubled in value between 2019-2023 because there was so much demand for places like it.

Owning a car may be a hassle but it's significantly less of a hassle than not owning one for many people. I was carless for decades but then had to give it up as I got older, busier, partially disabled, etc. I know lots of people with kids whose families couldn't function in the same way without a car. Lots of working women basically live out of their cars on weeknights making multi-stop trips all afternoon and evening shuttling people around.

It's expensive to live in large cities because land values are so high from numerous competing demands, not just housing. The areas that are best serviced by infrastructure and other amenities have the most different parties wanting to use it, commercial and industrial as well as residential, while the further and further out you go, the less competition there is. Convenience is the draw for expensive neighbourhoods, and things like desirable school districts, leafiness, historic character, etc. not necessarily just walkability. San Francisco and New York are so expensive because you're competing with so many people whose salaries are so high and who also want a short commute, not because they are necessarily that walkable or have great public transport.