How Zoning Hurts Our Cities
Traditional zoning has separated uses and done damage to cities
Zoning. When you hear that word you may not feel anything. Many of us go about our lives without giving zoning much thought, even though it can be one of the biggest shapers of our cities, and as a result, our lives.
In most cities around the United States, zoning tells us where we can live, work, and play. It controls the location and form of commercial, industrial, and residential interests.
Without going into too much zoning history, traditional zoning was created to make cities healthier and safer. In the early 20th century, cities were plagued with overcrowding, pollution, and and a mishmash of unsafe buildings jammed into urban areas.
Though zoning helped facilitate quiet residential streets and separated children from factory smoke, it also sprawled out our cities and made it difficult to get anywhere by walking.
Zoning has been criticized as a tool that has hurt urban form because of its tendency to separate uses. In many municipalities, single family homes were separated from retail uses, office uses, and other commercial uses.
Other land uses such as industrial factories and manufacturing plants were located away from any area where people lived, meaning that long commutes for workers soon became…
