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Zoning in the United States
Zoning is a law that divides a jurisdiction's land into districts, or zones, and limits how land in each district can be used. In the United States, zoning includes various land use laws enforced through the police power rights of state governments (often delegated to its local governments) to exercise authority over privately owned real property.
Zoning laws in major cities originated with the New York City 1916 Zoning Resolution. Before zoning, some cities had local ordinances like those in Los Angeles in 1904 limiting "wash houses" (laundries) from operating in a residential area. These early city ordinances were in some cases motivated by racism and classism.
After the Supreme Court declared racial ordinances unconstitutional in 1917, many localities discovered zoning and began setting down citywide restrictions. In suburban localities, zoning often mandates single-family housing. Zoning ordinances did not allow African-Americans moving into or using residences that were occupied by majority whites due to the fact that their presence would decrease the value of home. The constitutionality of zoning ordinances was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co. in 1926.
According to the New York Times, "single-family zoning is practically gospel in America," as a vast number of cities zone land extensively for detached single-family homes. Low-density residential zoning is far more predominating in U.S. cities than in other countries. The housing shortage in many metropolitan areas, coupled with racial residential segregation, has led to increased public focus and political debates on zoning laws. Studies indicate that strict zoning regulations constrain the supply of housing and inflate housing prices, increase homelessness, and contribute to inequality, a weaker economy, and racial housing segregation in the United States.[excessive citations]
Zoning laws that prioritize single-family housing have raised concerns regarding housing availability, housing affordability and environmental harms. In the U.S., support for local zoning against multifamily housing is concentrated among white, affluent homeowners. There are no substantial differences between liberal and conservative homeowners in their opposition to the construction of dense housing in their neighborhoods. However, among the mass public and elected officials, Democrats are more likely to support dense, multi-family housing.
Zoning in the United States is expected to cost hundreds of billions or over a trillion per year in lost economic output.
Many argue that German urban planner Reinhard Baumister was the first to develop a system of land use separation that could be considered "zoning". Frankfurt's nineteenth century zoning plans were used as inspiration across America and other countries in Western Europe.
The purported need for formal zoning in America arose at the turn of the twentieth century as cities such as New York, experiencing rapid urbanization and growth in industry, felt a growing need to reduce congestion, stabilize property values, combat poor urban design, and protect residents from issues such as crowded living conditions, outbreaks of disease, and industrial pollution, through legal means. Edward M. Bassett, author of the first comprehensive zoning ordinance in the United States, wrote in 1922:
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Zoning in the United States
Zoning is a law that divides a jurisdiction's land into districts, or zones, and limits how land in each district can be used. In the United States, zoning includes various land use laws enforced through the police power rights of state governments (often delegated to its local governments) to exercise authority over privately owned real property.
Zoning laws in major cities originated with the New York City 1916 Zoning Resolution. Before zoning, some cities had local ordinances like those in Los Angeles in 1904 limiting "wash houses" (laundries) from operating in a residential area. These early city ordinances were in some cases motivated by racism and classism.
After the Supreme Court declared racial ordinances unconstitutional in 1917, many localities discovered zoning and began setting down citywide restrictions. In suburban localities, zoning often mandates single-family housing. Zoning ordinances did not allow African-Americans moving into or using residences that were occupied by majority whites due to the fact that their presence would decrease the value of home. The constitutionality of zoning ordinances was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co. in 1926.
According to the New York Times, "single-family zoning is practically gospel in America," as a vast number of cities zone land extensively for detached single-family homes. Low-density residential zoning is far more predominating in U.S. cities than in other countries. The housing shortage in many metropolitan areas, coupled with racial residential segregation, has led to increased public focus and political debates on zoning laws. Studies indicate that strict zoning regulations constrain the supply of housing and inflate housing prices, increase homelessness, and contribute to inequality, a weaker economy, and racial housing segregation in the United States.[excessive citations]
Zoning laws that prioritize single-family housing have raised concerns regarding housing availability, housing affordability and environmental harms. In the U.S., support for local zoning against multifamily housing is concentrated among white, affluent homeowners. There are no substantial differences between liberal and conservative homeowners in their opposition to the construction of dense housing in their neighborhoods. However, among the mass public and elected officials, Democrats are more likely to support dense, multi-family housing.
Zoning in the United States is expected to cost hundreds of billions or over a trillion per year in lost economic output.
Many argue that German urban planner Reinhard Baumister was the first to develop a system of land use separation that could be considered "zoning". Frankfurt's nineteenth century zoning plans were used as inspiration across America and other countries in Western Europe.
The purported need for formal zoning in America arose at the turn of the twentieth century as cities such as New York, experiencing rapid urbanization and growth in industry, felt a growing need to reduce congestion, stabilize property values, combat poor urban design, and protect residents from issues such as crowded living conditions, outbreaks of disease, and industrial pollution, through legal means. Edward M. Bassett, author of the first comprehensive zoning ordinance in the United States, wrote in 1922: