It is curious to me that many of the same people who champion density and diversity also whistle past the graveyard when it comes to order, trust, and the other intangible things that hold communities together. In diverse communities without tight neighborly ties, these things become even more important. And they’re easier to maintain than to rebuild.

Cities in other countries, and much more progressive countries, don’t seem to hold this view that cities are sort of inherently unpleasant; this Puritan-esque idea that there’s some virtue in putting up with the unpleasantness, that cities are broccoli or spinach. …

If the idea that the city must be friendly to the broad middle class, and to children, and to people who aren’t street-smart, is met with pushback or hectoring by urban progressives, then the city itself will be met with pushback from the broad middle class. As, in much of America for a long time, it has been.

[And will continue to be, as long as cities refuse to enforce laws and support societal fringes rather than societal norms. At least a couple of American cities are already entering doom loops; how many more will it take? — Ed]