This makes it possible to actually connect useful mass transit to the suburb, which as the article explained, people will use if it's there.
This happens is areas of low housing density (single-family homes in Jefferson Park) and high density (high-rises in Lincoln Park.)
That's just blocks away from this:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Andersonville,+Chicago,+IL&hl...
The point is these shots are not atypical, it's like this throughout Chicago. Even the "not so good areas" have the same fundamental layout.
If you can live and work entirely in the city limits, public transit might work.
I'd say your experience is primarily with the suburbs, not the city.
This makes it possible to actually connect useful mass transit to the suburb, which as the article explained, people will use if it's there.
The article says that people in midtown take MARTA to the grocery store... I can confidently tell you that this is incorrect at best. People in midtown drive their car to Whole Foods on the way back from their 15 minute reverse commute to work in another part of town. They will later walk to a local restaurant, bar, the park, or a local grocery or retail store, but it is rare that they will use MARTA except to get to the airport.
The correlation seems credible, but not the causitive. That is, you probably could build developments where cul-de-sacs are common for streets and where mixed use properties are connected by walking paths.
The most likely people to use Marta for groceries are the poor (and assumably carless) particularly from the South of the city (West End). And, I feel like my Publix is the only one located on the line.
I'd add that I ride Marta to get to Lenox, Buckhead, and Braves/Falcons games most often. Friends that live near stations and ride Marta also ride to GT.