alt Hacker News> Yes, but why would anyone want to live on what is effectively a farm, but without the benefit of separation from other people or land (read: income) that a farm offers?
They don't want complete separation from other people. They want conveniences of the city/metropolis (access to jobs, entertainment, and education) while having a lot of space around their home for recreation & privacy.
They don't want farm work (required for that income) either - it's physically and emotionally hard and margins are thin and fragile depending on the weather.
> They want conveniences of the city/metropolis (access to jobs, entertainment, and education)
But not without having to travel. And once travel is in the picture, you can be to the same places just as fast from a farm as you can from another point in the city. It might be hard to appreciate if you have never lived on a farm, but once you do you'll realize that the highway is unbelievably efficient.
Your point only holds for when that stuff is available within walking distance of one's home. But now we're back to not needing costly transportation, so...
> They don't want farm work (required for that income) either
Where do you get the idea that farm work is a necessary condition to realize an income from farm land? Most farmers (in the legal sense) don't farm their own land, they have other farmers work it through sharecropping/rental agreements.