Are We Ready for National Minimum Urban Density Standards?

Eliot Allen thinks it's time for a serious federalization of land use law:

In the face of global water and climate trends, it therefore seems reasonable to ask whether we can afford to let development density exacerbate conditions and limit our options for achieving greater resilience. Perhaps the time has come to discuss national minimum urban density standards. The rationale for minimum urban densities is simple: in locations where achievement of public policy depends on compactness, the capacity of a finite amount of land in a community is too valuable to use insufficiently, and doing so is detrimental for everyone.