memes

A little bit of both tbh. Many US cities have ridiculous zoning laws that require you to build nothing but single family homes in huge suburbs. No medium density and no mixed zones (think grocery store next to your home or even downstairs from your condo unit). Liberal areas have it too. It's about as universal as healthcare is in my country. The origin is, of course, racism.

There's other forms of red tape too, like building codes, but the inability to build like a 6 family 2 or 3 story condo complex is costing the US a lot. Lost productivity, forced car dependence, higher infrastructure costs, etc. And of course higher real estate prices because you get fewer units per unit of land area.