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in the past, local voices did not have power to organize or constrict local development. its a form of social technology that has enabled this around the world over the past 80 years.

when people look at urban sprawl they see the culprit as cars, which is maybe true, but the real cause is democracy.

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Society didn't used to be rich enough to afford to waste resources entertaining arbitrary meddling into what people did on their private property. If you didn't like that the carriage shop next door made hammering noises all day tough luck, society was not going to impede that business owner's ability to feed his family for no reason other than the abutters' luxury.

The problem is wealth. We've solved our other problems so now we have nothing better to do than complain about what nearby landowners do on their own damn private property.

I dont think the concern for what our neighbors are doing has gone up so much as our ability to make noise about it. Dealing with conflicts between neighbors is ancient.

>Dealing with conflicts between neighbors is ancient.

But society previously couldn't afford to indulge in wasting resources (either directly on process or implicitly by preventing people from doing what's economically optimal) mediating these disputes to the same extent they do now. That's why I think it's a wealth thing.

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