[neilparikh]

> Europe does not have skyscrapers so it is possible.

I'll steelman your argument to be "Europe has less skyscrapers than NYC" (which I think is true, IIRC).

If you need to get away with less super tall buildings, you need to spread out the density elsewhere; that is, have medium density everywhere. In US and Canada, we've decided that the suburbs are untouchable, so the only solution is to have super tall buildings in a few areas. That's how you get 30 story apartments literally next to 2 story houses [0]. This is an intentional choice. I think it's the wrong one, but overcoming it is going to take a lot of convincing.

0 - https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-stock-photo-aerial-view-of...

[cperciva]

In US and Canada, we've decided that the suburbs are untouchable

Not in Metro Vancouver! Of buildings >= 500' in height, 7 are in Burnaby, 4 are in Vancouver, and 1 each are in Coquitlam and Surrey; under construction are another 4 in Burnaby, 3 in Vancouver, and 1 in New Westminster. There's a dense urban core surrounded by SFHs and then as soon as you cross the border into the suburbs you suddenly get density again.