Zoning

Initially introduced in New York in 1916 and quickly spreading to nearly all large American urban areas, zoning is a practice of municipal or county government land segregation according to use, density, building height, and lot size. Zoning is a police power permitting governments the right to refuse permission to use land in ways differing from the zoning code. Zoning is often equated with city and county planning processes but functions differently in reality. Zoning is considered a “negative” tool in that cities only have a right to deny a land use application rather than designating exactly what the property can be used for. Zoning has been studied by political geographers interested in the exercise of governance and by economic geographers interested in the consequences ...