Rather than the dream of ubiquitous public transit (which even in compact rail/bus-friendly Japan is often lacking in suburban and rural areas), outside of city centers it seems like a more attainable goal is self-driving cars.

With self-driving cars, you can consolidate parking to single vertical parking structures that service the area, and have businesses and condos in its surroundings build more closely together in aesthetic walkable clusters. As long as the automated valet "fetch" of your car takes only a few minutes people will be happy.