Zoning tells us what we can do and where. It was created as a way to organize our cities and separate uses that were incompatible such as a factory from a housing development. But the way we zone land is contrary to the rest of the world which is neither good nor bad, just different according to the author Sonia Hirt. We talk in this episode about how zoning is part of American culture and how our approach to development differs from European countries. For example, residential zoning, a concept that has come under fire recently for the way it was used to further segregation, does not exist in countries like Germany. While zoning might appear to be ordinary and routine, the fact that categories were created in the first place means that it is not actually neutral. The conversation wraps up with a short discussion on shrinkage in legacy cities whether growth means goodness or if shrinkage is actually okay.
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