BigMediaMatt notes in A Spectrum of Places that the there is a huge difference in the way we organize our cities, noting Ben Adler’s article A Tale of Two Exurbs:

Leesburg, Virginia, is the archetypal American exurb. Named after an ancestor of Robert E. Lee, it is the seat of Loudoun County, 35 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. — the farthest true suburb west of Washington.
…
Much of Kentlands is taken up with large, expensive-looking, single-family homes. But they are close together, so that the town has sufficient density to support walking and transit use. The houses vary in architectural style, but they have one common quality: They are not hidden behind a giant garage. Many of the homes have ample parking, but it is set either behind the house in an alleyway or alongside the house down a narrow path. Likewise, every tree-lined block has a sidewalk on both sides. There are cars parked along the road, creating a buffer between people and the moving cars and helping to slow traffic.

Adler notes that many exurbs don’t fully understand that they have the power to create walkable urbanism. Walkable urbanism, according to Christopher Leinberger, requires a minimum FAR of 0.8. I’ve noted before that the prized small town centers exurban residents love are not legal under existing zoning rules meet or exceed this minimum FAR. But as Leesburg’s Mayor Kristen Umstattd explains:

“I think the downtown is very charming, so if you were to have new development that is what I’d want to see,” Umstattd says. But she, like every Leesburg and Loudoun County planning official that I interviewed, seems to be waiting for private developers to propose this type of development — she doesn’t believe the Town Council should make it mandatory.

This is insane. Of course you have the political right to make it mandatory and of course private development will not build what you want when you make it both illegal (through zoning rules) and unprofitable. That is what zoning rules are about.
I often wonder if exurban mayors and administrators would be more receptive to walkable urbanity if they were better educated on this subject matter.