The "for most people that is always going to mean renting" is that part that we could change through large scale collective policy. That's what Singapore has done for example. No one doubts whether people want to live in cities. We are asking whether the model of private landlords is the best way to manage large quantities of housing in cites. Look at Singapore:

"Eighty-two percent of Singapore’s residents live in HDB-built (Housing Development Board) apartments, of which there are more than 900,000. In contrast to both New York and Vienna, HDB encourages public housing residents to purchase their apartments. Nine out of ten HDB residents own their homes. The 50,000 rental units are, according to the HDB website, 'for the truly needy who have no other viable housing options.'" [1]

So yes, people want to live in dense cities. It does NOT automatically follow that they will have to rent. This is a policy choice.

[1] https://charterforcompassion.org/shareable-community-ideas/p...