"land-use regulations in the U.S. tend to be more lax than those in other places. “In most European countries, it’s much harder legally to build on unbuilt area than it is here,” she said. One reason European policy didn’t gravitate as much toward sprawl is that many European countries were much poorer than the U.S. until about half a century ago, so they didn’t have the same resources to build lots of large houses."
I don't understand this. Since the European nations were relatively poor compared to their American counterpart, they made land plots smaller? The article doesn't provide any specific examples of this, so I don't understand how it is an explanation.
Otherwise a great and informative article.