>>Those "interlopers" are ...
I notice that your example start with actual locals growing out of a locale to people who have nothing to do with the locale.
Whether someone is enemy or friend all depends on attitude. Are you trying to work with and build upon what the previous generations have built, or are you trying to merely appropriate it because you don't like the price of single-family zoning?
>>That depends on your definition of "value". Do you mean the well-being of everyone in the community? or the market price of your house?
The market price of the house has little to do with it (and could plausibly increase w/more building by inducing local demand). For me, and everyone I know, market value is not motivating.
What IS motivating is threats to the CHARACTER and ENVIRONMENT of the locale - especially the environment - open land, walking trails, actual wildlife and an ecosystem hosting endangered species, butterflies, birds, etc..
THIS is real value to the people who choose to live here.
And in fact, the property values are not that great, and certainly have not increased like other areas.
So, NO, property values are NOT even close to the top priority of me or anyone I know in this or any other such town I lived in. Yet, in your limited understanding of the issues, property values are all you see.
>>the retired on a fixed income, the working poor struggling to stay housed,
ihe town I currently live in and surrounding towns have all approved some senior and low-income housing developments (and denied other damaging proposals).
>>those who spend hours commuting, etc.
Yes, from here commuting is hours to the city center; about 45min in an off time, but nearly two hours at commute time. So, building more here will just create more massive commuting issues. In fact, an MIT study in the area found that it was only the addition of about 250 commuters in an area of three adjacent towns that caused the commuting traffic to go from doable to regularly 'gelling' into intolerable jams — literally just over 100 extra units now regularly extra choked traffic in the whole region.
>>For many people jobs, amenities, and culture make for desirable neighborhoods. Single family single use zoning doesn't contribute to any of that.
Fine, so find an area that doesn't have single-family zoning and build that up for more jobs, amenities and culture.
Do not presume that you have some right to come and literally trash the place because the population density and pricing is not to your liking.
That is no different than some developer saying that he should be able to put up a condo development, strip mall, and office zone in a National Park because he thinks it has too low a population density.