Forests are not gone "forever". They reclaim land as soon as foot traffic dies. I am from Mogadisho, Somalia, and none of my old neighborhood is recognizable today: it's all jungles. Trees swallowed a quarter of the old city, and another quarter is lost to encroaching desert sand. In our case, "forever" was exactly 10 years.

Out of all the ways to fight sterile sprawl, why choose a method that promotes sterile density? Smart Growth suffers from a very severe and unfortunate unintended consequence: Drastically increased barriers to entry.

It is sad to see how many higher density proposals are squelched because they don't fit the vision of Smart Growth planners, or because the developers don't have multiple years worth of cash flow behind them to support the permitting process, public approval process, and zoning approvals process. Oh, and if you happen to want to have small scale low impact manufacturing (such as clothes manufacturing) instead of Mid-Scale retail or B-Class Office space...good luck waiting another few years for the Smart Growth planners to determine if your appeal is "smart" enough for them. These barriers to entry are how Smart Growth developers (like Paul Allen's Vulcan Real Estate) end up owning entire neighborhoods (like Seattle's South Lake Union).

Manhattan was almost completely built out, with an extremely diverse and interesting landscape, long before the planners took over. There is no need for them and their vision.