While it's clear that we need to build more homes and apartments for our growing population, a more difficult question that must be answered is where to build them.
The legacy of sprawl. In the past, Southern California has grown by developing new housing on raw land on the outer edges of the urban area — often referred to as sprawl. This type of development makes people depend on automobiles and freeways to connect them to jobs, goods and services. While this model may have worked well in the past, the region's crowded freeways, poor air quality, and dwindling open space have made it apparent that we cannot continue to grow in this manner.
Using density to create healthier communities. An alternative to sprawl is to create compact, mixed-use neighborhoods that combine homes and apartments with stores, offices and schools — often within walking distance. The key is building neighborhoods at higher densities.
Although many people have a negative response to density, if handled right, building more densely can have some substantial benefits:
- Residences within walking distance of stores, restaurants and other businesses is often what makes a neighborhood vibrant and fun to walk around.
- Having more people supervising public space, both pedestrians on the street or eyes on the street (from people looking from windows above), can help reduce crime and make our streets safer.
- More destinations close together make bus and rail service more efficient and cost effective for riders and the Metro.
- More people taking bus and rail means fewer cars and less air pollution.
- Building more compactly means we can save more open space for ourselves and future generations rather than continuing to sprawl.
