how do you get there from anywhere?

After reading Sam Bass Warner's book, Streetcar Suburbs, I have a greater appreciation for the power of self-regulating systems, and cautious of how that power can create long term imbalances in human affairs. The relatively high density neighborhoods that resulted from the development of the late 19th century in Boston was at odds with its intent. Any association with a rural ideal was consumed by a patchwork grid of roads, building lots and wood framed houses.

I'm also going to propose a rule that applies to residential settlement: Lot sizes double with each advance in transportation technology. It's a crude rule, but it has played out in the greater Boston area over the centuries. When people commuted by foot and horse, things were very close together. Agricultural land was close by and cities were small. Service by rail and boat needed centralized transfer areas with a high density of hand labor. A single family home often took the form of the row house on a 1000-2000 s.f. building lot, because this proportion range maximized the density and proximity that foot traffic required. With the railroad, and then, more significantly, the streetcar, the lot size roughly doubled. With the arrival of the automobile, the ring suburbs could develop, and lot sizes increased to a quarter acre or more. The further out you go from the city center, the larger the minimum lot that is required by zoning. (And zoning, that's a whole other issue. I have to keep reminding myself that zoning is a relatively new concept, especially when it is made a formal law).