> Housing price is a function of supply and demand

Yes, a function of supply and demand of everything. [1]

> your argument had nothing to do with price of housing, you were only talking about density and its effect on livability

My argument is that there is no reason to assume that increasing supply by blanket deregulation is a simple and effective solution to the housing crisis that has no downsides.

> If people "generally prefer" midrise cities, they will move there.

Many people don't want to move there because there are not enough economic opportunities, not because they dislike good traffic or green spaces.

> The great thing about allowing density is that people will stop moving in when they don't like it anymore.

If you solve all possible tragedies of the commons of that approach, sure.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnenschein–Mantel–Debreu_the...