When zoning and subdivision ordinances were created in the early 1900s they were two distinct governmental functions. But failure to combine them led to jurisdictions writing contradictory regulations. Author Connor Murphy looks at the standard way subdivision and zoning are presented as separate code titles in most land use regulations then combines the regulations into a single code title -- effectively solving long-standing problems planners have encountered. Common Sense Zoning makes the planning process accessible and transparent for those who wish to create a more livable future. Professional city planners and others can easily understand land use regulations that: simplify Euclidian zoning make sense to people who lack expertise in zoning clearly explain the decision-making process invite ordinary people to participate in governance protect communities from scoundrels Common Sense Zoning provides guidance to the 34,000 small governments that can't afford to hire pricey outside consultants or pay millions to update their land use regulations.

When zoning and subdivision ordinances were created in the early 1900s they were two distinct governmental functions. But failure to combine them led to jurisdictions writing contradictory regulations. Author Connor Murphy looks at the standard way subdivision and zoning are presented as separate code titles in most land use regulations then combines the regulations into a single code title -- effectively solving long-standing problems planners have encountered. Common Sense Zoning makes the planning process accessible and transparent for those who wish to create a more livable future. Professional city planners and others can easily understand land use regulations that: • simplify Euclidian zoning • make sense to people who lack expertise in zoning • clearly explain the decision-making process • invite ordinary people to participate in governance • protect communities from scoundrels Common Sense Zoning provides guidance to the 34,000 small governments that can't afford to hire pricey outside consultants or pay millions to update their land use regulations.

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.

The Mixed-Use Neighborhood: Creating a Sense of Place explains how ordinary people can create nice places to live-neighborhoods without destructive zoning, neighborhoods free from highspeed traffic, and neighborhoods of mixed land uses focused on happiness. Euclydian zoning, the zoning used in most urban areas, destroys neighborhoods by mindlessly separating land uses by arbitrary categories-residential, commercial, industrial, etc. Zoning does nothing to create a sense of community or personal happiness. We need to return to preindustrial urban design that evolved over centuries to serve human needs, not just provide factory labor to feed machines. With rapidly falling birth rates, rising education levels, and cybernation, the industrial city no longer needs to drive urban design. Aristotle said happiness is the goal of life because a good life is a happy life and vice versa.

The purpose of long-range urban planning is to set aside the most appropriate locations for future land uses. Unfortunately, power brokers use this planning process to position their own land holdings to become the most profitable locations. And planning professionals often come up with unimaginative, cookie-cutter solutions. But it doesn't have to be this way. With a little knowledge and the willingness to get involved, ordinary citizens can take back control. Thanks to author Connor Murphy's book City Planning: How Citizens Can Take Control, anyone can learn how to become active in the city planning process. After all, a plan is nothing more than plotting out the steps needed to reach a goal. City Planning will educate you on important elements you need to know about the following kinds of city plans: • General • Limited • Specific • Redevelopment • Preservation City Planning: How Citizens Can Take Control will not only give you the knowledge you need, but it will also teach you how to apply your newfound planning knowledge to make a real difference in your community.

Gentrification and displacement of low-income communities of color are major issues in New York City and the city’s zoning policies are a major cause. Race matters but the city ignores it when shaping land use and housing policies. The city promises “affordable housing” that is not truly affordable. Zoned Out! shows how this has played in Williamsburg, Harlem and Chinatown, neighborhoods facing massive displacement of people of color. It looks at ways the city can address inequalities, promote authentic community-based planning and develop housing in the public domain. Tom Angotti and Sylvia Morse frame the revised edition of this seminal work with a tribute to the late urbanist and architect Michael Sorkin and his progressive and revolutionary approaches to cities as well as a new preface about changes in city policy since Mayor Bill de Blasio left office and what rights citizens need to defend. The book includes a foreword by the late, distinguished urban planning educator Peter Marcuse and individual chapters by community activist Philip DePaola, housing policy analyst Samuel Stein, and both the editors.