Why is increased density an important environmental issue?
Since World War II, the model for new development in California has been the low-density suburban housing tract. Although California still has a significant amount of open space, land is not an unlimited resource. According to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, about 1,950 square miles of rural land in California—an area more than four times the size of the city of Los Angeles—were developed in the 15 years between 1982 and 1997. Similarly, our dependence on automobiles has created a major environmental problem, accounting for about half the air pollution in the Los Angeles basin. Low-density communities separated from jobs, schools, and shopping offer few transportation alternatives to privately owned cars. An alternative vision for growth The smart growth alternative calls for building on vacant land, obsolete industrial land or distressed commercial areas closer to where the jobs and public transportation are. Such an “infill” approach saves taxpayers the costs of expe
