Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes Our World
Zoning codes dictate how and where we can build housing, factories, restaurants, and parks. They limit how tall buildings can be and where trees can be planted. They have become the most significant regulatory power of local government, ultimately determining how we experience our cities. Yet zoning remains invisible.
In Key to the City, legal scholar and architect Sara C. Bronin examines how zoning became such a prevailing force and reveals its impact--and its potential for good. Outdated zoning codes have maintained racial segregation, prioritized cars over people, and enabled great ecological harm. But, as Bronin argues, once we recognize the power of zoning, we can harness it to create the communities we desire, and deserve. Drawing on her own experience leading the overhaul of Hartford's zoning code and exploring the efforts of activists and city planners across the country, Bronin shows how new codes are reshaping our cities--from Baltimore to Chicago, Las Vegas to Minneapolis, and beyond. In Boston, a law fought for by a passionate group of organizers, farmers, and beekeepers is transforming the city into a haven for urban farming. In Tucson, zoning codes are mitigating the impacts of climate change and drought-proofing neighborhoods in peril. In Delray Beach, Florida, a new code aims to capture and maintain the town's colorful spirit through its architecture.
With clarity and insight, Bronin demystifies the power of an inscrutable organizing force in our lives and invites us to see zoning as a revolutionary vehicle for change. In Key to the City, she puts forward a practical and energizing vision for how we can reimagine our communities.
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Zoning laws dictate the shape of cities far more than the designs of any architect. Far too often they have been less a useful tool than a straitjacket, forcing cities to develop according to patterns that no longer make sense. In Key to the City, Sara C. Bronin argues that the solution is not to abolish zoning but to reimagine it, showing us how we can rewrite our zoning codes in the hope of using them to bring about the civilized cities that we deserve.--Paul Goldberger, author of Why Architecture Matters and Joseph Urban Chair in Design and Architecture at The New School
Sara C. Bronin has written a wise, illuminating survey that shows how land use policy rules everything around us. As an expert with a comprehensive grasp on both politics and history, she's the perfect guide to this complicated, controversial subject.--Henry Grabar, author of Paved Paradise and Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design
Progress in our cities is in the details. Through vibrant examples and compelling illustrations, Sara C. Bronin demystifies zoning laws and reveals how thoughtful urban planning can create thriving, resilient communities and, unfortunately, what happens in our cities when those laws are not in place.--Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, former mayor of Baltimore
