I would say they're not doing it so much for the new residents, but the current residents. It truly is about the character of your town. If your current resid

I would say they're not doing it so much for the new residents, but the current residents. It truly is about the character of your town. If your current residents wants to hire a teacher, firefighter, restaurant worker, etc that person may need to move in from out of town. So you can decide how / where people live through zoning. You also decide how easy/hard it is for people to live in your town, and thus how much goods and services costs. It's entirely in your hand... I just think most people focus on one aspect (buildings near them) and don't think about other tradeoffs (all the consequences of how/where people your town 'hires' could live as the economy grows). It's complicated and the whole point is you get to work with your zoning board to make those decisions informed by the data and needs of the town.