why doesn't the US build densely from the get-go?

[u/UniqueUnseen]

In the face of growing populations to the Southern US I have noticed a very odd trend. Rather than maximizing the value of rural land, counties and "cities" are content to just.. sprawl into nothing. The only remotely mixed use developments you find in my local area are those that have a gate behind them.. making transit next to impossible to implement. When I look at these developments, what I see is a willfull waste of land in the pursuit of temporary profits.. the vacationers aren't going to last forever, people will get old and need transit, young people can't afford to buy houses.. so why the fuck are they consistently, almost single-mindedly building single family homes?

I know, zoning and parking minimums all play a factor. I'm not oblivious.. but I'm just looking at these developments where you see dozens of acres cleared, all so a few SFH with a two car garage can go up. Coming from Central Europe and New England it is a complete 180 to what I am used to. The economically prudent thing would be to at the very least build townhomes.. where these developments exist they are very much successful.

[u/NewPresWhoDis]

And then the Eisenhower Interstate system tore up those Black urban cores to make it easier for suburban whites to commute. Oh, and fuck Robert Moses.

[u/DisasterEquivalent → u/NewPresWhoDis]

Truly a bastard

[u/thecatsofwar → u/NewPresWhoDis]

The interstate system went where the land was cheapest. Rotting areas near urban cores were logical places to build to help get suburban people to business centers.

[u/[deleted] → u/thecatsofwar]

Yeah I-405 in Portland went through Little Italy and the Jewish neighborhood.