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Except, this isn't actually true in your proposed system. It has an urban growth boundary. Inside, development is promoted. Outside, development is forbidden. So the idea is to push density out until it hits the boundary, then keep densifying, with rural land outside the border.
Sometimes I wonder if this is largely aesthetics. Some people like open spaces and trees. Others like
brutalist dystopiasthe hustle and bustle of good urban planning, which needs big towers for the correct feel and density.More options
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Coyote valley is nowhere near six miles from downtown San Jose. It's more like 19 miles. It's actually closer to Gilroy (18 miles).
It's also in a fairly narrow mountain pass that's about four miles wide (eyeballing the map).
Livermore by contrast is located on a huge open space, although access to the cities on the bay itself is limited (especially with the demise of the bart extension).
Claiming Cupertino is the center of the bay area is an, uh, interesting claim as well.
The 101 and 85 junction is literally 21 miles from Gilroy and 11 miles from downtown San Jose. And the part immediately around the junction is built up, the empty land starts a few more miles down 101, near the electrical substation.
It's really not that close to downtown SJ, certainly not six miles. Downtown Los gatos is about the same distance to downtown SJ as the junction. Cupertino and mountain view are further away, but those places are really far, so I don't know if that's saying much. I lived in Sunnyvale for five years and I went to San Jose just a few times a year (it doesn't help that there's not much reason to do so).
The center of silicon valley is arguable, though IMO Cupertino is probably too far south for that and I'd put it in mountain view. IBM is headquartered in New York. The bay area is certainly not centered on Cupertino, though.
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