As a boomer, I agree , urban planners only looks at the needs in one way. The idea that the city needs to be the center of attention is wrong, was wrong 100 yrs ago. Back then, the car and trolley was making inroads on the city's need for being of central importance. Cities should have expanded their service base and made city offices more even spread through out its boundaries. This would have encouraged compliance with things like zoning and permits, as people would not have to run the evil gauntlet of getting through downtown traffic and competing for parking with the workers.

Additionally, our cities lost their purpose when the fed & state governments usurped city infrastructure and made them available to the suburbs.

Unlike Europe and northern cities, Southern cities never made investments in the suburbs, including rail travel, so bedroom communities like those found on the Philly "Main Line" were not built. In those areas, people 20-30 miles outside of a city have no problem using train travel to get to work.

Lastly I think forming new "towns" or settlements, in the surrounding counties, are easier to insert good public transit than trying to re-fit extant urbanized areas, though it needs to be planned and not left to the developers to ignore, as we have seen in the formation of Crofton, and currently in Middle River & Belcampe.