Density isn't a choice--it's a market imperative

Density isn't a choice--it's a market imperative. When land is expensive, we built up. For 99% of human history, there was a structural limit on how high we could build. For 99.5% of human history, there was a transportation limitation. Streel frame skyscrapers conquered the first. Elevators conquered the second. At this point, how high we build is either a financial question (trade-offs between land-costs and building costs) or political one (how much of my sunlight can be neighbor block). Safety complaints are bunk - fire is irrelevant once you're no longer using an American-style wood ballon frame. 

What IS a choice is the land use and building typology. And we need to stop pretending otherwise. Jarrett Walker has done a lot of good work making explicit the frequency vs. coverage trade-off for transit. Someone needs to do the same thing for land use types. 

We can have something with good automotive access with good parking, good station access with direct corridors, or good pedestrian access with small blocks and a solid street-wall.