I think the problem with their conclusion is that as we've seen with NIMBY, most people really aren't persuaded by "facts" and "logic", they're persuaded by identity.
Most NIMBY suburbanites actually DO understand the basic geometry of cities. Here in southwest CT, you'd be hard-pressed to find ANY suburbanite, NIMBY or not, who doesn't have enough experience on MTA and walking around in The City to intuitively grasp that the geometry of density works the way Full Stack says.
No, they would just say, "That's not for me, though". Or "It's nice for weekend trips and doing fun stuff, but I like my big lawn and not having people living on top of me like sardines, thank you very much!".
That's not to say that the converse is true - that there's ONLY utility in selling identity-based pitches for urbanism. You aren't going to convince that same suburbanite to become a density-loving YIMBY urbanist with, "But don't you think rowhouses are so CUUUTE?!?". That's clearly ALSO a dumb persuasion strategy.
I think what this all points to is something more like an "Appeal to normie-ism" strategy:
>> I don't begrudge you the right to live a suburban lifestyle. I don't want to cram you into a city you don't like. I don't think building a skyscraper across the street from you is the solution to our housing crisis. But I _do_ think cities should build enough that they're satisfying demand to live there. We all know real estate values intrinsically go up with density, but when we restrict construction on top of that, people bid up prices to levels absurdly higher than those values. So, no one expects cities to be _cheap_, but it's distorting and bad for our society when there aren't options for living a middle-class lifestyle in cities.
You're not insulting anyone's intelligence by YIMBYsplaining density to them. You're not attacking their identity, or trying to sell them on an identity that their revealed preferences should already tell you they won't ever buy. You're just appealing to your common desire to live the same standard of living.
I think the problem with their conclusion is that as we've seen with NIMBY, most people really aren't persuaded by "facts" and "logic", they're persuaded by identity.
Most NIMBY suburbanites actually DO understand the basic geometry of cities. Here in southwest CT, you'd be hard-pressed to find ANY suburbanite, NIMBY or not, who doesn't have enough experience on MTA and walking around in The City to intuitively grasp that the geometry of density works the way Full Stack says.
No, they would just say, "That's not for me, though". Or "It's nice for weekend trips and doing fun stuff, but I like my big lawn and not having people living on top of me like sardines, thank you very much!".
That's not to say that the converse is true - that there's ONLY utility in selling identity-based pitches for urbanism. You aren't going to convince that same suburbanite to become a density-loving YIMBY urbanist with, "But don't you think rowhouses are so CUUUTE?!?". That's clearly ALSO a dumb persuasion strategy.
I think what this all points to is something more like an "Appeal to normie-ism" strategy:
>> I don't begrudge you the right to live a suburban lifestyle. I don't want to cram you into a city you don't like. I don't think building a skyscraper across the street from you is the solution to our housing crisis. But I _do_ think cities should build enough that they're satisfying demand to live there. We all know real estate values intrinsically go up with density, but when we restrict construction on top of that, people bid up prices to levels absurdly higher than those values. So, no one expects cities to be _cheap_, but it's distorting and bad for our society when there aren't options for living a middle-class lifestyle in cities.
You're not insulting anyone's intelligence by YIMBYsplaining density to them. You're not attacking their identity, or trying to sell them on an identity that their revealed preferences should already tell you they won't ever buy. You're just appealing to your common desire to live the same standard of living.