In the old days of the compact urban form we typically built structures three and four stories high. The guy in the loft next to hers makes premium quality snow-boards. We are tearing down the core Hudson's store in Detroit that if laid out in modern fashion would cover 14 square city blocks instead of the one block that it sat on. We need to rethink height as a form of compaction. Our problem is underground gas transmission lines.
Perennials come up too early because of the heat from the lines, then they freeze off.
Even the snow melts off the lines in the winter, it's that hot. In summer, it's too warm and the soil dries out quickly. I pay the taxes for land I can't use. These lines have split my 10 acres almost in half. This isn't the worst part of it.