“Smart” Growth? - Not Necessarily
Philosophy
“Smart Growth,” the attack on low-density housing, is a philosophy originally promoted by anti-growth and fringe environmentalist groups and came into popular usage in the 1990s. As Robert Bruegmann, professor of art history, architecture, and urban planning at the University of Illinois, states, “…in the middle 1990s…. Environmental, farmland conservation, and preservation groups, as well as architects, planners, and academics in the social sciences, came together to form a strong consensus that ‘sprawl’ was economically inefficient, socially inequitable, environmentally damaging, and aesthetically ugly; in short, a disaster that had to be stopped.” [Robert Bruegmann; A Defense of Sprawl; 2007]
Proponents of so called “Smart Growth” principles want new housing to be “infill”, meaning homes located within existing towns and cities. While infill is fine for people who choose to live within an existing town or city, free will is not the objective of “Smart Growthers.” To Smart Growthers, new homes of people who choose to live outside existing towns and cities are termed “sprawl,” including homes built on farms and ranchland, and is to be opposed at all costs.
The fact that many home buyers actually prefer to live out in the country does not deter the Smart Growthers, who want to require new neighbors to live within an existing town, whether they want to or not.
Smart Growthers refer negatively to anything they consider “sprawl.” A Smart Growth website, sprawlcity.org, uses the phrase “rural land lost to sprawl.” This phrase implies that sprawl is entirely detrimental by using the term “lost,” rather than emphasizing the positive effect of a family gaining a place to establish their home.
Increased Regulations
Smart Growthers want laws, ordinances, regulations, and general plans to require their philosophy to be imposed by law on others through manipulation of the political and legislative process. Smart Growthers use the tactics of disguising their ultimate agenda with broad and vague generalities and misleading the public with what appear to be generally agreeable goals. After all, who would be against Mom and apple pie?
It is interesting to note that in Amador County, contrary to the anti-“sprawl” philosophy they espouse for others, many prominent Smart Growthers themselves hypocritically live on large parcels outside of the towns and cities where they want everybody else to live. Their real motto: “Do as I say, not as I do!”
Smart Growth Principles - Debunked!
Let’s take a look at the stated principles of “Smart Growth”:
- Strengthen and Direct Development Towards Existing Communities
- Preserve Open Space, Farmland, Natural Beauty and Critical Environmental Areas
- Take Advantage of Compact Building Design
- Make Development Decisions Predictable, Fair and Cost Effective
- Create Range of Housing Opportunities and Choices
- Encourage Community and Stakeholder Collaboration
- Foster Distinctive, Attractive Communities with a Strong Sense of Place
- Mix Land Uses
- Provide a Variety of Transportation Choices
- Create Walkable Neighborhoods
After reviewing the reasons for opposition to each of these principles please read our conclusion and see the Articles & Books page for additional interesting resources.