Except regulations are what got us here in the first place? At least in the US, zoning is a recent invention with racial motivations. Cities want to be dense because that is the cheapest way to build. That is why basically every city older than a 100 years old that hasn't been wrecked by zoning is dense. Suburbs are an unnatural product of abundant land in the US, the invention of automobiles, and zoning.
reply...that's a pretty disingenuous take on zoning, which has many other motives beyond racism.
replyFor example zoning keeps industry away from residential, preventing disasters like the West Texas Fertilizer explosion.
Must we have extremes? I could live near ”no explosives” zoning, while still allowing at lot more than is typical today.
replyZoning is about 100 years old, and it's not the reason Manhattan doesn't have enough groceries. And ultimately, market forces almost always win over regulations.
replyReformulate the question: why do people tolerate living in dense tiny apartments, without easy access to necessities like childcare and grocery stores?