Most people in HN fail to understand that the vast majority of people don't want to live in incredibly dense city centers. Not everyone is a young single professional without kids. This doesn't mean that everyone wants to live in a single family house in a suburb, but also not everyone wants to live in a highrise in a packed city center that looks like hong kong.

Families want to live in dense centers or close to them. The parents who can afford it actually like being close to schools, to their work, to where after school programs are.

The city centers are the most expensive, because vast majority wants to live there. Further away is less expensive and even mode further away is even more expensive.

Most if not all european city centers are no dystopia. They are perfectly compatible with having familly.