I lived in a beautiful "traditional neighborhood" in Portland OR. It was what they call close-in, meaning it was near the city center about 5 miles away. It was lovely and I wanted to live there. So did everyone else who lived there, which is why the cost of the homes started at $300,000. Many were close to a $1 million. If you wanted to buy there you had to find a realtor who knew what was coming up. There were no For Sale signs, properties were gone a day after they were listed.
The homes were large (usually around 3,000 s.f. on 3 levels, basement, 1st and 2nd floors). Most lots were only 5,000 square feet. Corner lots were 10,000 s.f. Since it was an older neighborhood, once a street car subdivision, most homes had only a 1-car garages if that. People still clamored to live there and paid top dollar to live there. They parked their nice cars on the street if they had to. It was worth it to them to live there. They could have afforded a large lot with a large new home, 2 or 3 car garage, etc. farther out, but they didn't want that. Others do want that, but not everyone does.
It was not ghetto, far from it. It was a lovely tree-lined streets with sidewalks and friendly people who had block parties 4 times a year. Kids played basketball and rode their bikes in the streets. The streets were narrow and safe, not wide streets with fast driving cars. I walked my daugher to a lovely brick school 4 blocks away.
Across the nation many people want to live in these types of neighborhoods and pay top dollar to do so. Only it is illegal to build this type of neighborhood today in most places. It is not Smart Growth people who are telling people how to live, it is the status quo planners and zoning people who have controlled our zoning laws for over 40 years. People who want to live in a traditional neighborhood have to live in an old one because it is illegal to build new ones like it.
Not everyone can afford to live on big parcels of land and drive many miles to work. Not everyone who could afford to wants to. Not everyone wants to grow their own food.
The totalitarian people are NOT the people opposed to poor planning and allowing people a choice where to live. It is NIMBY's who are opposed to "sprawl" except their opposition is for THEIR area. They really don't care about anywhere else. They don't care if a new development is planned well or not. They don't care if people can afford housing or not. They don't care about lot size or type of housing. They just don't want development near them. Period. So they call any development 'sprawl'. These existing property owners are the no-growth anti-sprawlers, not Smart Growth people.
Smart Growth proponents are not opposed to growth, they realize that is impossible. Our population is growing, people have to live somewhere. What Smart Growth proponents are are for is better planning and not allowing outmoded zoning laws and ad hoc NIMBYism to plan our built-environement by default.
It's tyrants like you that want to force people to live like dairy cattle. "Smart Growth" is the code name for UN agenda 21. Control the people.
The Lord told us to subdue the earth, and that is what we are going to do until he returns. It's called obedience.