Unfortunately, 7B people who think they are entitled to midwestern living is ecologically disastrous. The responsible ecological future is in density. General misanthropy (or targetted misanthropy, see: white flight) leading to sprawl is a privilege of Americana (hopefully a temporary one). Dense living still means you can get to forests and fields within 20-30 minutes (instead of 10-15 minutes).

Not to mention the economical benefits of dense living when ideas are forced to live next to each other to create new ideas through osmosis [1].

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzgMRvQLdXI