Yes but I could argue oppositely and say when a city razes land and builds a road, it's mandating something, and restricting choices to a very specific activity—driving. Which is only useable if you own a car. You also pay for this with taxes. They'll argue it has corollary benefits for everybody, like the gov't does when it seizes property for roads via eminent domain. I'm just looking for the solution that costs the least and benefits the most.
City planning is a political issue, and most bitcoiners will agree with something Ron Paul has coined as "Volunteerism"
When you start "looking for better solutions" - this is a form of authoritarianism.
You cannot mandate that other people live a certain way because it would be "better" (objectively or otherwise)
Cities exist the way that they do because they are initially built up through volunteerism, a community of people building out their lives. The addition of local governments and city utilities "making things better" creates the unfortunate eventuality of eminent domain construction actions.
I think the ultimate form of this way of thinking is currently being championed by the mega-city projects of Saudi-Arabia, let's wait and see how it works out for them.
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