early-morning neighborhood design question

Is it economics or aesthetic that determines the shapes of new neighborhoods?

When shelling out 250 grand for a place in the exurbs, are gently curving roads and clustered courts the result of some focus group that found people prefer the sensation of gliding through a scenic area every time they drive home? An 'over-the-river-and-through-the-woods' sensation brought on by the abolishment of long, straight corridors of homes and sidewalks?

Or, are those Mandelbrot, spoke-on-a-wheel house layouts in suburbs the result of the price of concrete? You'd think if you had x acres to build houses on, you would resort to some more or less constant grid as that would maximize the number of houses you could sell. However, if the builder also has to build the roads that lead to those homes and for which they are only indirectly compensated, it makes sense to make as little road as possible, and that would result in spurs that lead to clusters of houses. Especially if land is proportionately cheaper than roads, as you can afford to squander some land to save on roads. Not ideal in terms of numbers of homes, but still not bad.

Granted, if the x acres you bought is bounded on three sides by the fields of farmers who've not yet sold out, it may make sense to use courts to fill in some corners where you couldn't have streets passing through to larger arteries anyway, but it still seems unlikely that the space couldn't be filled with more properties if grids were used.

Writing this, I'm picturing a neighborhood of curving roads and I'll admit, it seems nicer than the one I grew up in of 1920s square geometry, complete with alleys. But is that a result of an ingrained aesthetic that I'd be willing to pay more for (enough to make up for the builders' loss in homes that could have been built) or is it a conditioned response based on the generally more-expensive neighborhoods that feature such layouts?

Boy! First it was title insurance, now the layout of residential neighborhoods. Whooo-EE bad juju is nothing if not eff you en fun!