In the seemingly-endless housing supply debate, there is often a divide between those favouring greater intensification, and those favouring a larger physical footprint for growing cities. My own policy view is squarely in the “it should be a matter of individual choice, provided the infrastructure etc costs of development are appropriately internalized, and the rights of existing property owners are protected” camp (and yes, I recognize that the definition of almost every word in that statement could be extensively debated). My practical prediction is that New Zealand is a society where most people will prefer to have a decent backyard (they don’t flock to high rise apartment buildings or town houses with tiny sections in Hastings or Timaru), so long as regulatory restrictions don’t make that infeasible. It was quite possible 50 years ago, when New Zealand incomes were much lower. There is simply no reason, in a country with this much land…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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