When you argue for housing reform to legalize denser development in our cities, you quickly learn that some people hate density. Like, really hate density, with visceral disgust and contempt for any development pattern that involves buildings being tall or close together.
I mean, I live in a nice apartment and I still don’t enjoy density, living in the city with kids sucks in many ways. Im not sure I would enjoy suburbia that much more, especially if it means taking a hit on expenses. When I buy a house, I don’t want neighbours in spitting distance of me, which is why I will be looking something outside of the city, ideally without a neighbour within 500, if not 1000m of my house.
As a kid who grew up in a place like that, it kinda sucks. Yea the forest is cool, could make lots of noise and had lots of space, but I had only 1 kid on my street to share that with. I was dependant on rides from my parents to be social/work until I got a bicycle and could bike 10km into town to socialize with friends. Rural living can be very isolating for kids and turn parents into taxis.
Valid point. That said I have 3 boys, oldest is four and followed by twins who are one and a half younger, think they wont be lonely, but socialising outside of that will of course be cumbersome. My job means around 20 days off a month, so chauffeuring is also less problematic.
We can’t all afford to be as antisocial as you as a species. We’d go extinct even faster if we did.
Edit: like seriously imagine if we all lived at a density of ONE family per square km… ~4 hab/km2… that’s insane. You have to be misanthropic as fuck to wish that future.
Its not misanthropic to want privacy and to be able to do whatever the fuck i want on my property without worrying about the neighbours. Sunbathe naked? Sure. Come home from a shift, wanna blast some music at 7:00 to unwind? Sure. All night party? No prob. Orgy by the pond? Why not.
On top of that, I don’t know many people below 50 who have a relationship with their neighbours that is more involved than exchanging pleasantries in the elevator. I don’t doubt that some do, but generally that seems the exception these days.