First off, I totally agree with you on what's leading young people to anxiety and loneliness, but all of those things are abetted by what I wrote. People used to dwell in villages, living in close proximity to family, friends, and neighbors. Suburbs do and have upended that.

And seriously, I'm not talking about mega-cities like Manila, though read the comments and you'll see some folks there aren't unhappy there. I'm not even talking about NYC, LA, etc. We'd have to go abroad to cities like Florence that never had car-centric development.

Lastly, usually when someone says they have lack the time or energy to refute something, it's because they don't have shit. The 8,500 square foot lot is an average. The pic might be slightly smaller than that, but not much. I'd guess those lots are around 5,000 square feet, which is about 18 people per acre based on average household sizes. This is not dense, and those things around the homes--yards and fences--really do prevent social flow (I was raised in Chicago suburbs and know of what I speak). Moreover, there are no third spaces to meet, there is ZERO street or civic life in that picture outside a car or two, and you know those folks go to malls for everything. I appreciate that people like you work in malls (I looked you up) and live in sprawling suburbs, but your experience is not the benchmark of quality or optimal design.

I'm not sure what Polish moms have to do with anything, and many of the things I'm writing about weren't relevant 60 years ago, but you do you.