"Neighborhood character" is a NIMBY dogwhistle
Probably well exemplified by Frank Lloyd Wright in the mis-century who created what he called 'usonian' homes. These were small block specific homes intended for workers that were completely in keeping with the surrounds.
Meanwhile the most famous picturesque neighborhoods (in SF, Paris, NYC, etc) were built in a disorganized way to make a quick buck for property developers and landlords in an era before zoning codes even existed.
"Neighborhood character" is a historically unprecedented concept which exists only as an excuse to block new housing.
Nonsense. For example the UK has been protecting our built environment since Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882. The movement to strengthen protections it is a reaction to cultural artefacts being irretrievably lost in the 20th century.
That comparison doesn’t hold water. California is a joke when it comes to public transport. Newsom shut down the HSR after collecting millions. Just like that. Shut it down. As voters and tax payers, we don’t demand enough accountability from our elected ‘leaders’. It’s unconscionable how they keep repeating the same clown trick again and again…and we just keep clapping our hands and ask for more.
you are probably right for the situations you have thought of, but really over all of the world and all of history, this is really not the case.. start to narrow that down, of course, and you still find contradictions and edge-cases.. too much a generality for the real world