There is no fundamental reason for urban sprawl to stop. Western living standards and wealth are increasing, and the actual material costs of laying a sewer pipe or road become negligible.
With the advent of electric self driving cars, transportation becomes cheap and hassle free. A network of highways converging to an urban center served by Boring co Loop tunnels can gather trafic from a 30 mile area. As long as travel times are less than say, around 45 minutes, those people will be living "in the city".
A 30 mile radius means about 7 million plots of 10000 sq feet, so you could accommodate more than 20 million inhabitants in this suburbopolis of single detached family homes.
The factors preventing it are land prices, regulatory pressure and homebuyer tastes.
With the advent of electric self driving cars, transportation becomes cheap and hassle free. A network of highways converging to an urban center served by Boring co Loop tunnels can gather trafic from a 30 mile area. As long as travel times are less than say, around 45 minutes, those people will be living "in the city".
A 30 mile radius means about 7 million plots of 10000 sq feet, so you could accommodate more than 20 million inhabitants in this suburbopolis of single detached family homes.
The factors preventing it are land prices, regulatory pressure and homebuyer tastes.