Suburbia, Signal Hill
Calgary AB
©Photograph by H-JEH Becker, 2013
One way to look at the two options is the need to own a car (car dependency) or having a choice of whether one needs to own a car. For suburban sprawl, it can be said that the right of choice, which we so treasure, is taken away from us and suburban city designs makes us prisoners to owning a car. When we live in suburbia, how quickly we forget that choice of how we spent and enjoy about $10,000 per year, after tax, is not available to us. It must be spent on a car, not on a nicer or larger house, not on pleasurable things we like to do. When a home is an apartment, the decision to not have a car or to use car share allows about $30,000 to $50,000 to be spent on a nicer apartment or on other pleasures.
Setting aside the monetary perspective, for suburban sprawl it can be said that it is a retreat from people, from crowds, from street sounds, from simple access to vibrancy of cities.
Recently in the Calgary Herald,
Third Wave Cycling Blog 
I feel exactly the same! I grew up in car-dependent suburban USA & now live in Amsterdam – true freedom by bike! 🙂 Every single time I hop on my bike (I’ve named her Ruby) I fall in love with the city all over again. I do have friends that own cars, of course, but cruising around town is always best done by bike (and a fav. theme on my own blog). My parents live in Seattle and feel the same way… they are not environmentalists, it just makes sense. Better by bike, for sure (or for my parents – the bus!)
Good thoughts on the subject!
In comparing urban densities between different cities, one must consider the land area allotted to green spaces. Calgary has a lot of green space within city limits. For me and many others, this reduces the need to drive long distances to get out of town to spend time in nature. I can ride my bike to the edge of a naturalized park to go snowshoeing or hiking.
It would be interesting to compare the densities between different cities with green spaces subtracted, and compare the amount of green space in each city. I’m sure Calgary would still be a much lower density than Toronto or Montreal, but the difference may not be as glaring.