Shareable future?

Alex Steffen talked about shareable future for our cities. At one point of his talk he points out:

The denser the city the lesser the footprint

While this is certainly true the following is also true:

The denser the city the worse the mental health of its residents.

This contrast is easily explained: while we reduce the carbon footprint we endorse the 'people' noise and the stress. Car alarms, crying babies, loud music in the neighbours, a party bellow you, piano player above you, someone making renovation somewhere in the nearby building or worse - in your building. All those things tend to build up and destroy our sense of equilibrium and the more sensible to this stress people (like me) reach a point where everything bothers them! Every little noise, every little nuance with the neighbours, with the loud people walking on the street and so on.

So mr. Steffen, before we can stop stealing your future, you should first propose a viable solution. Because the one you are proposing right now it not good. Increasing the density of the cities is NOT what we need!

(link to the TED video (mp4))