Why must they want to get denser? What is wrong with liking the density they have and wanting no more? Go live somewhere else! Surely there's got to be some answer to the tech giant jobs by now.
I do not want to live in a high rise or even a 5 story, but if I did, I cannot imagine going some place that doesn't have them and challenging "why don't you have a borg cube for me to live in?"
Or it could be that not everyone wants to live in a crowded city in a small apartment. Some people prefer to be a bit more spread out, perhaps near nature.
Development standards rarely satisfy everyone's needs/wants. It is more efficient to build at a high density, but that may not necessarily mean that we should all conform to that mentality. A lot of us don't want to live in dense urban environments.
Unfortunately I don't think that Americans are prepared to accept dense living as acceptable outside of luxury condos in the mega-cities. It's just like some people are just afraid to fly. You really and pushing uphill there, despite the many benefits.
Not everyone wants to live in a dense city. It's perfectly understandable that you like density and want more of it but not everyone feels that way.
Even if it isn't what interests a person, I think it's reasonable to have empathy for people who moved into a location specifically because it had a level of density that met their needs and don't want to be repeatedly be forced out of their home to maintain the conditions they chose to live in-- particularly given host costly and disruptive moving is (severing ties with your community, loss of business relationships, substantial tax increases due to prop 13, and currently massive increases in the cost of financing due to higher interest rates).
I don’t think people go out seeking density. The are avoiding a commute or being near entertainment district etc. It’s likely there are some large houses nearby too. They just require a different budget. But I bet most people would live in them if hey could.
A city is not obligated to densify. The give is that people start to move to places they can afford to live instead of complaining about what hasn't been handed to them.
It's not strictly a matter of protecting investments and real estate values. Many people simply don't enjoy living in dense areas. They prefer having a little space, privacy, and quiet. There's nothing wrong with wanting that, and the complaints by residents who have been there for years about the impacts of greater density are legitimate.
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