Reform and Consequence: The Mid-Century Roots of Twenty-First-Century Zoning

Abstract

Zoning is widely criticized for incompatibility with housing diversity and smart growth, often with reproach toward zoning’s first foundations and authors. Using extensive archival and spatial research, this article traces zoning’s trajectory from first to present applications, showing these limitations arose not from first ordinances but mid-twentieth-century reforms. It argues early zoning was more supportive of design and land use patterns aligned with twenty-first century planning goals. In contrast, mid-century initiatives—particularly Urban Renewal—produced auto-centric, suburban-style codes restricting walkable, mixed-use environments. The article argues that mid-century changes reshaped zoning in ways that hinder twenty-first-century planning.