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Reconsidering Zoning:
<br />E),'.pandin an American
<br />8y leroid $. KcJyclen
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<br />Land-Use
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<br />This article intends to provoke a discussion of zoning about how the venerable tool of
<br />zoning' may be adapted to create better-planned, better-designed American cities.
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<br />Consider it a menu triggering an appetite for
<br />new approaches, a template for seeing zoning
<br />as a surprisingly flexible implementation tool
<br />with a time-honored pedigree, A comprehen-
<br />sive regulatory tool covering alt !and within a
<br />territo~/, zoning has had a significant impact,
<br />for better and worse, on the design and qua[i-
<br />ty of the built environment. With the ease of
<br />empirical, retrospective iudgment, it is all too
<br />easy to criticize many ,if its outcomes,
<br />whether it be single-use, sterile districts or
<br />monolithic, faceless structures. But that same
<br />judgment: demonstrates the power of zoning
<br />to influence at wholesale, rather than retail,
<br />scales the look, feet, and content of the built
<br />environment, indeed, from the progressive
<br />p{anners of the early decades of the goth
<br />century to New York City's ~oning innovators
<br />of the late t96os and early t97os to the New
<br />Urbanists of today, individuals have com-
<br />mandeered this technique and wielded its
<br />power to advance their own design visions,
<br />with evident demonstrations of impact and
<br />even Success.
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<br /> This article identifies and examines sig.
<br />nificant themes that dominate, or should
<br />dominate, current debates about zoning,
<br />including the following:
<br />~ Who's got the power?
<br />.7 Rule versus discretion
<br />
<br />· ~ To prescribe or not to prescribe: That is the
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<br /> question
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<br />~ The "generic prescription": the emergence
<br /> of form-based zoning
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<br />~ Outcomes. not inpu[s
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<br />~ Making The city beautifu~
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<br />; Less is more
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<br />The halfway house of market-based zoning
<br />Getting to yes-or at least something
<br />Embracing social equity
<br />How far is too far?
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<br /> The article also explores specific tech-
<br />nical innovations that illuminate the the-
<br />matic debates. At times, arguments and
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<br />WELCOMF. TO ZONING PP, ACT]C£
<br />On the aoth anniversary of the inception
<br />of Zoning News, ~he American Plannin3
<br />Assodation has chosen to redesign this
<br />monthly publicadafl to serve its reader-
<br />ship better and inject some new excite-
<br />ment into the eh[ire subject of zoning. ?o
<br />celebrate ~his new beginning, we are inau-
<br />3uratin~ a new periodic feature called
<br />"Theo~ & Practice" (see box on page 3).
<br />Our fir5~ refereed article is a paper first
<br />presen[ed by ~he autl~or at a conference
<br />for ~he planning directors of the 2S larges~
<br />U,S. ci~ies, held in October ~oo3 at the
<br />Harvard Design School, and co-sponsored
<br />by Harvard University, ~he Lincoln Institute
<br />of Land Policy, and APA. Revised and sub-
<br />mitred specially ~or ~his issue of Zoning
<br />P.'t~gce, i~ provides a fresh, provocative
<br />look at zoning's potefl[ials while ,challeng-
<br />ing common assumptions abou[ its limita-
<br />tions. We offer this special, longer edition
<br />of Zoning Pmcdc~ as an in[ro~uction to
<br />the many topics '.,ye hope will exci~e/ou in
<br />t:omifl~ morl(hs.
<br />
<br />techniques are presented in the extreme, in
<br />their purest form, leading the practical read-
<br />er to shake her head at the apparent discon-
<br />nect between purity and reality. Such cogni-
<br />tive dissonance is intended to stretch, tem-
<br />porarily, the thinking envelope, before the
<br />practical reader snaps back to everyday
<br />attention, Zoning philosophy, termino[o§y,
<br />and technique are interwoven throughout
<br />the article, with newer techniques highlight-
<br />ed in boldface treatment.
<br />
<br />Settling On a ,qaseline Definition
<br />At a time of heightened, sometimes
<br />overblown, rhetoric about zoning, the start-
<br />lng point for this article is an agreed-upon,
<br />baseline definition to anchor further
<br />inquiry. Zoning controls what takes place
<br />on privately, sometimes publicly, owned
<br />land, principally through its trio of use (vio-
<br />lin), shape (viola), and bulk (cello) restric-
<br />tions on development. Use means residen-
<br />tial, commerdal, industrial, and so forth.
<br />Shape refers tO the two- and three-dimen-
<br />sionat conflEuration of development, on
<br />land and in the air. 8u~k means the amount
<br />of building that goes on a unit of land. The
<br />precise approaches that zoning employs to
<br />control use, shape, and bulk, however, a/e
<br />left to the inventiveness of the imple-
<br />menter. Fioor-area ratios replaced heigh't
<br />and setback criteria as a primary dictator of
<br />commercial densities, for example.
<br />Performance standards suggested a quali-
<br />tative approach different from absolute,
<br />quantitative rules. Yet, each of these easily
<br />falls into what is called zoning.
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<br />70 ZONING PRACTICE
<br /> AA~ERICAN PLANNING
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