>>Zero galloping land left in Queens or Nassau on Long Island.
>>In Nassau, which 50 years ago was more than 75% vacant land, there are zero building lots available.
>>Queens hit that mark 25 years earlier.

Auckand is on an isthmus, something unfamiliar to many US visitors who are startled to learn that there's less than a mile between the national East and West coasts at one point. So there was limited land even before Auckland decided to grow like Topsy. The result is that any available space is eagerly gobbled for hugely expensive housing, with once green leafy suburbs rapidly converting to concrete jungles.

Fortunately Auckland's version of the founding fathers secured lots of land for reserves in town, including most of the volcanic cones on which Auckland is built. There's only a few dozen homes up onto the volcanic slopes; the rest is publicly owned reserve. In addition, large swathes of land well outside the city limits were allocated for clubs and sports pursuits... but the city expanded so that now the iconic Rugby grounds at Eden Park are in the midst of packed suburbia and recreational fields that used to be on the outskirts, now are hugely valuable city land. The volcanic cones never can be sold as they have Maori significance plus the donors locked them up in perpetuity, but quarries, historic golf clubs and galloping fields seem destined to become closely packed housing.

Way to go, Ohio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WXcexId5s8

-WXcexId5s8