Let the market work. If you don't like sprawl, don't move there. I don't like it, so I live in an older neighborhood. Lots of new homeowners love the suburbs, though, so let them live there. I prefer the small restaurant to the homogenized stuff out there, but lots of people like the convenience of those other places.
I was in Houston once, where they had little or no zoning. I asked someone how they decided what could be built on a lot. The person said that whoever wants to invest their money gets to decide. They don't rely on some pinhead in the gubmint to tell you how you should invest your money, they figure if you are spending your own money, you get to decide. Pretty refreshing. I believe this has changed somewhat now. Not sure.
Lots of these people shouldn't be complaining so much. The flip side is if your town is shrinking or stagnant. Then, you'd love a little sprawl to increase your tax base. Those are the towns that are the ones trying to attract developers and new businesses.
My little town (30 miles away) just recently had Starbucks and a Walgreens built, I like it as do all the locals, it means the town is growing. What we don't want is another Starbucks across the street and tearing down the old museum so that Eckerds can compete with business from Walgreens. Understand? It's called urban planning and it's out the window in most suburbs. Unregulated sprawl is a blight, I don't need 5 new drugstores within 1/2 block, at the expense of the historic 100 year old buildings and neither do you.