To explain what we mean by Smart Growth for Working Families and why we are such strong advocates for it, we first define some key concepts such as sprawl and smart growth.

What is sprawl?
"Sprawl" is a contested concept. Most commonly, it refers to development patterns that have low density and a lack of mixed-use (combining residential and commercial) projects ; auto-dependency (forcing everyone to drive to work); strict separation of residential from nonresidential property; and job growth in newer suburbs with job decline in core areas (including older suburbs).

What's wrong with sprawl?
Sprawling development patterns result in increased dependence on automobiles and longer commuting times, deteriorating air quality, and rapid consumption of open space in outlying areas. They also cause disinvestment in central-city infrastructure and services, and they strain city budgets at the core (caused by a declining tax base) and in the suburbs (caused by overly rapid growth at the edge).

The decentralization of entry-level jobs in manufacturing, wholesale, and retail means that work is farther from concentrations of low-skilled, unemployed workers. Since the suburbs lack affordable housing and public transit fails to reach many suburban jobs, sprawl effectively cuts off central city residents from regional labor markets. That means greater concentrations of poverty in core areas.

What is smart growth?
Land use policy is the way state and local governments regulate our built environment. It includes zoning laws, transportation planning, environmental reviews, and other ways civil society seeks to physically integrate and harmonize workplaces, housing, commercial activity and public spaces.

Smart growth is a form of land use planning that helps local communities make choices together for the future and combat unplanned growth. The term Smart Growth has evolved to mean an approach to economic development that often accomplishes the following:

• protects natural resources and open space
  
  
• revitalizes and rebuilds existing communities
  
  
• coordinates development with existing infrastructure to improve efficiency and reduce future costs
  
  
• clusters activity centers, workplaces and housing so that buildings and neighborhoods are mixed-use
  
  
• supports walking, cycling, and transit as alternatives to driving
  
  
• uses incentives to promote sensible growth
  
  
• strengthens economic competitiveness through smarter use of infrastructure investments

How does smart growth improve the lives of working families?
Smart growth benefits working families in a variety of ways. Consider this:

• Smart growth helps to keep factory jobs in the core area, where they are more likely to be unionized.
  
  
• Smart growth defends the market share of unionized grocery store chains by helping restore population density in core areas.
  
  
• Smart growth shores up the tax base of older areas (where many union members live), deters service cuts, privatization and concessions against teachers and other public employees.
  
  
• Smart growth helps to keep hospitality work in the downtown or by the airport, where it is far more likely to be unionized.
  
  
• Smart growth creates billions of dollars in publicly-funded construction work expanding transit systems, which helps transit workers, improves air quality, and gives commuters additional choice.
  
  
• Smart growth creates massive amounts of publicly-funded infrastructure work rehabilitating roads, sewers and other public systems.
  
  
• Smart growth promotes provate redevelopment construction activity in core areas, where it is most likely to be union.
  
  
• Smart growth helps to keep office buildings in core areas, making them easier for janitors and operating engineers who are organizing.