It's also cheaper to not have to own a car for every person in the house over 16, it's cheaper to have a smaller home, it's cheaper to have less lawn, etc. I'm NOT saying that we should eat in cafes all of the time, but the home has had to become everything, because public places are lacking and often ugly.

What percentage of people actually play golf every day? And yet, in an article about great small towns, the magazine has a good listing of "Amenity communities" in which to live. "Ideal Living"? That's the thing. It has become the ideal. For a very small part of the population, sure. For everybody else?