>>1509051Densification only reduces travel times up to a point, then you start getting diminishing returns as the traffic skyrockets. Then travel times increase because owning a car becomes idiotic for your wallet and the city becomes more of a financial prison you can't easily leave.
The optimal density of cities is probably what you saw around the 50s-70s, depending on the specific location.
Suburban sprawl is made by and for people who hate cars too, else they would not be designed like ferns. Ideally you have meandering semi-gridded roads that mix pockets of commerce and industry every 2-3 miles. This makes biking and walking where you need to go relatively easy, eases main thoroughfare traffic due to multiple parallel options, and provides a variety of choice as to where one goes for goods and services.
And you can go outside that area if you want because traffic isn't that bad.
>>1509086You want to reduce the need to commute at all by extending outward, not upward.
Cities are shit because they are so dense. "Ending car dependency" is actually ending travel choice. People need the option to leave the city, temporarily or permanently, to be one that isn't costly, in order for the COL to not skyrocket like you see happening in metro areas all over.
The simple fact is that you need a vehicle of some sort to move yourself more than a few miles a day and your stuff past the curb. Without a vehicle of your own you need to rent or be friends with someone who has one - doable but not universal.
