Land Use Without Zoning

Land Use Without Zoning
Author: Bernard H. Siegan
Publisher: Mercatus Center at George Maso
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2021-02-05
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9781538148624

The conversation about zoning has meandered its way through issues ranging from housing affordability to economic growth to segregation, expanding in the process from a public policy backwater to one of the most discussed policy issues of the day. In his pioneering 1972 study, Land Use Without Zoning, Bernard Siegan first set out what has today emerged as a common-sense perspective: Zoning not only fails to achieve its stated ends of ordering urban growth and separating incompatible uses, but also drives housing costs up and competition down. In no uncertain terms, Siegan concludes, "Zoning has been a failure and should be eliminated!" Drawing on the unique example of Houston--America's fourth largest city, and its lone dissenter on zoning--Siegan demonstrates how land use will naturally regulate itself in a nonzoned environment. For the most part, Siegan says, markets in Houston manage growth and separate incompatible uses not from the top down, like most zoning regimes, but from the bottom up. This approach yields a result that sets Houston apart from zoned cities: its greater availability of multifamily housing. Indeed, it would seem that the main contribution of zoning is to limit housing production while adding an element of permit chaos to the process. Land Use Without Zoning reports in detail the effects of current exclusionary zoning practices and outlines the benefits that would accrue to cities that forgo municipally imposed zoning laws. Yet the book's program isn't merely destructive: beyond a critique of zoning, Siegan sets out a bold new vision for how land-use regulation might work in the United States. Released nearly a half century after the book's initial publication, this new edition recontextualizes Siegan's work for our current housing affordability challenges. It includes a new preface by law professor David Schleicher, which explains the book's role as a foundational text in the law and economics of urban land use and describes how it has informed more recent scholarship. Additionally, it includes a new afterword by urban planner Nolan Gray, which includes new data on Houston's evolution and land use relative to its peer cities.

Arbitrary Lines

Arbitrary Lines
Author: M. Nolan Gray
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2022-06-21
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1642832545

It's time for America to move beyond zoning, argues city planner M. Nolan Gray in Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It. With lively explanations, Gray shows why zoning abolition is a necessary--if not sufficient--condition for building more affordable, vibrant, equitable, and sustainable cities. Gray lays the groundwork for this ambitious cause by clearing up common misconceptions about how American cities regulate growth and examining four contemporary critiques of zoning (its role in increasing housing costs, restricting growth in our most productive cities, institutionalizing racial and economic segregation, and mandating sprawl). He sets out some of the efforts currently underway to reform zoning and charts how land-use regulation might work in the post-zoning American city. Arbitrary Lines is an invitation to rethink the rules that will continue to shape American life--where we may live or work, who we may encounter, how we may travel. If the task seems daunting, the good news is that we have nowhere to go but up

Private Neighborhoods and the Transformation of Local Government

Private Neighborhoods and the Transformation of Local Government
Author: Robert Henry Nelson
Publisher: The Urban Insitute
Total Pages: 500
Release: 2005
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780877667513

From 1980 to 2000, half the new housing in the United States was built in a development project governed by a neighborhood association. More than 50 million Americans now live in these associations. In Private Neighborhoods and the Transformation of Local Government, Robert Nelson reviews the history of neighborhood associations, explains their recent explosive growth, and speculates on their future role in American society. Unlike many previous studies, Nelson takes on the whole a positive view. Neighborhood associations are providing the neighborhood environment controls desired by the residents, high quality common services, and a stronger sense of neighborhood community. Identifying significant operating problems, Nelson proposes new options for improving the future governance of neighborhood associations.

The Encyclopedia of Civil Liberties in America

The Encyclopedia of Civil Liberties in America
Author: David Schultz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 1234
Release: 2015-04-10
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1317457137

Driven by the growing reality of international terrorism, the threats to civil liberties and individual rights in America are greater today than at any time since the McCarthy era in the 1950s. At this critical time when individual freedoms are being weighed against the need for increased security, this exhaustive three-volume set provides the most detailed coverage of contemporary and historical issues relating to basic rights covered in the United States Constitution. The Encyclopedia of Civil Liberties in America examines the history and hotly contested debates surrounding the concept and practice of civil liberties. It provides detailed history of court cases, events, Constitutional amendments and rights, personalities, and themes that have had an impact on our freedoms in America. The Encyclopedia appraises the state of civil liberties in America today, and examines growing concerns over the limiting of personal freedoms for the common good. Complete with selected relevant documents and a chronology of civil liberties developments, and arranged in A-Z format with multiple indexes for quick reference, The Encyclopedia of Civil Liberties in America includes in-depth coverage of: freedom of speech, religion, press, and assembly, as outlined in the first amendment; protection against unreasonable search and seizure, as outlined in the fourth amendment; criminal due process rights, as outlined in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth amendments; property rights, economic liberties, and other rights found within the text of the United States Constitution; Supreme Court justices, presidents, and other personalities, focusing specifically on their contributions to or effect on civil liberties; concepts, themes, and events related to civil liberties, both practical and theoretical; court cases and their impact on civil liberties.