Many people are naturally attracted towards less developed areas for better opportunities. However, populations in these places are on the rise, and more land must be developed upon to support all of these people, creating the issue of urban sprawl. By putting a stop to urban sprawl, suburban communities will transform into cities. Smart growth promotes this transformation, since it still promotes development in areas that are already developed, which is how cities are usually formed. Therefore, smart growth prevents new suburban communities from popping up. In developing countries, many people are forced to live in suburban communities because there is physically no more space to house them. It is mainly beneficial for them because a smaller community near a city is better than being packed inside of urban areas. However, living in suburban communities is often preferred in developed countries because they offer more opportunities than cities. The continuation of urban sprawl is completely necessary so that the suburbs will still exist. Urban sprawl is more beneficial to the people because the suburbs that urban sprawl allows to exist are safer, have better school systems, and have more economic opportunities.
Urban Sprawl is important because suburban areas have less crime than cities. New York City has had a total of 5,849 murders from 2002-2012, and the suburb of Oakland, New Jersey has not had any murders in that time period (City Data and NYC). “The average annual violent crime rate in urban areas was about 37% higher than the suburban rate” (Duhart). People, especially families, do not want their children growing up in unsafe neighborhoods. Smart growth even encourages people to live in apartments above stores. These homes are not desirable to people who prefer suburbia, because every day there could be strangers under one’s home, and these strangers could be potential criminals. If urban sprawl is put to a