memento mori

the issue is this sort of development is a fucking zoning dystopia that manufactures human misery. I think north Americans who haven't been outside USA or Canada will often forget that the majority of the world and most of human history did not have towns carved up into "housing zone" and "everything else" zones.

The extinction of mixed use zoning has been devastating on communities. It leaves people in food deserts. it leaves people more sedentary and pedestrians more at risk because of car dependency. it leaves children alienated, depressed, and much more dependant on their parents for longer when they need a drive to go anywhere interesting. Not to mention a lack of any profit generation besides property taxes leads to suburbs consistently being subsidized by the inner cities because they are economic sandpits with 10x the asphalt, piping, and utilities needed because every home needs its own independent setup.

Having swaths of land designated for absolutely nothing but residential development is a waste at every level. Hell, even communist bloc housing was smart enough to keep a ground floor for business space, many have small groceries or stores to keep things walkable.

This setup is an extremely common sight in eastern Europe. They aren't American style non-perishable food desert corner stores either, they sell fresh meat and produce and many are open 24 hours. The nearest thing you can get around here to "European" style zoning (we had it too actually, we just bulldozed it all lol) is probably Montreal because Quebec prides itself on french identity and architecture/city planning is no exception.