> The last thing I think of when choosing a place to live are the societal implications of it.
I think this is part of the issue of rising housing costs. People not considering how their decisions impact their wider world. And paradoxically, I suspect many people buy property in cities because (a) others are doing it and (b) the fear of not doing it early enough (the costs are "only going to continue to rise"). Two reasons that are societally driven.
> People not considering how their decisions impact their wider world
This is absurd. You do not hold yourself to this same standard. Even this entire gentrification argument has an implicit bias that because these people were there first they deserve to be there more than others.
If I were to come in and state tautologically "actually gentrification is good". You would not have any real response because your argument is also based on a tautology "gentrification is bad".
Other people have to move out because they can't afford it is bad? Why isn't it an equally valid argument that it's bad that other people can't live there because people are already there?
I think this is part of the issue of rising housing costs. People not considering how their decisions impact their wider world. And paradoxically, I suspect many people buy property in cities because (a) others are doing it and (b) the fear of not doing it early enough (the costs are "only going to continue to rise"). Two reasons that are societally driven.