An Introduction to Zoning

[@moisesromo]

I was never interested in zoning until I found out I owned an illegal triplex, in which I also lived. I had to fight the city, with the help of the neighborhood association. One man in the zoning department was very helpful. Now my triplex is no longer illegal but they also revised their zoning code to allow more density. Thank you for these videos

[@CityBeautiful]

Great story. Thanks!

[@trent6319]

This is the first time ive heard of a neighborhood association fighting for more freedom. Great story.

[@BlaxKid22]

What city?

[@TartarianTopG]

LA area?

[@johnblue8029]

Due diligence bro lol

[@JermaineSam]

I prefer mixed zone areas. It's awesome to walk to all the places for services you need. Instead of driving a car outside of your neighborhood just to get to your nearest grocery store. I live in LA and I am so close to ditching my car and living in an area where I can truly live and walk.

[@joshdoeseverything4575]

cars killed citites. Almost every beautiful city was built before the car, and before strict zoning. (think paris, london) Walkability is key to making a beautiful city, and walkability is what zoning has crushed.

[@nico70890]

How about living next to a factory??

[@Luboman411]

I live in downtown Manhattan. I love just going out into my mixed-zone neighborhood, sans car, and just exploring. Yesterday, on a lark, I decided to go look around for new eateries on my way to an eatery I love in my neighborhood. I discovered this place that sells onigiri, a dish I've never had before, and then going to my original destination. It was a fantastic culinary tour of my neighborhood, totally unplanned. It was great! Made me love NYC even more!

[@iheartlreoy8134]

JoshDoesEverything Car cities are just different. They're not worse. LA, San Diego, and Texas freeways are amazing and complex and the neighborhoods that sprout up in between them are all distinct.

[@chinogambino9375]

It doesn't make economic sense to build large factories on high demand lad which would fetch a better price for commerce or residential. You won't find large producers worth worrying about on multi-use land, even then you could pass an ordinance banning foul smells and loud noise which would kill off most undesirable businesses.

[@jaredbowhay-pringle1460]

The obsession with separating commercial and residential areas in some US cities is ridiculous and only lends itself to many downtown areas becoming bleak no-go areas at night or during weekends.

[@tou7331]

Jared Bowhay-Pringle but why would it stop it at night?

[@darthutah6649]

I think there's a growing trend of poor people leaving the city centers and moving to the suburb areas. Meanwhile, the poor people leaving are being replaced with more upper end Americans. We see this in NYC where formerly bad neighborhoods are being gentrified.

[@realazduffman]

Not all like it, I have seen some awful graffiti messages to the new arrivals

[@endrankluvsda4loko172]

Yeah, many indoor market areas, know as malls, where the different stores are owned by different companies, are fading away. Online shopping and giant markets owned by one company (like Walmart) are blowing them out of the water. But if there was a mall where the first floor were all various stores and the second were nice but affordable apartments so that residents didn't even have to step outside to buy all they things they needed, I think people would flock to those kind of places.

[@Nicholas-f5]

Plus parking garages can be shared between offices and entertainment districts.

[@Calikid331]

This is why majority of US cities aren't walk-able. I think zoning should be mixed, an apartment right next to a business right next to a school.

[@Mateo-et3wl]

why next to? it should be on top of

[@PatheticTV]

But that's just noisy. Imagine living here: www.google.com.hk/maps/@22.300782,114.1736153,3a,75y,296.59h,123.71t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sp8iUeB02alvZcSm2Mft6oA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 (sorry long link) A residential building next to a hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.

[@Nicholas-f5]

Gas companies want us to drive.

[@musafawundu6718]

It is American cities and not necessarily Western ones that do not like walking and convenience.

[@GoogelyeyesSaysHej]

Brick Life european countries also prefer walking and convenience... I think you’re confusing western with american

[@Dongonzales123]

Its very intersting that mixed zoning is so uncommon in the united states. Exclusive zoning is very rare in germany (or at least in the cities and towns). Residential zones often allow shops that provide everyday necessities, such as bakeries, small shops, hairdressers and so on. Doctors and law offices are also really common in my neighborhood. I live in a relatively low density residential neighborhood with lots of detached houses and lare yards in berlin but still have like 5 supermarkets within walking distance. I cant imagine having to take the car everywhere

[@carlosdgutierrez6570]

Same in Mexico, it is quite easy to change the zoning of individual buildings from residential to commercial and viceversa, so much that new neighborhoods get dotted with small business after 1 year or less of the first house being sold

[@franzzrilich9041]

The problem with small shops is that prices have to be higher than at Walmart, and the wages have to be lower, due to the lower volume of sales per employee. They cannot carry the same variety of products as a group of box stores at the edge of town. Realistically, they do not have usable parking. I live within two blocks of a lovely 1870s High Gothic ornate and decorative brick smalltown central business district. Most of the stores sell candles and high-end gifts. The Public Square and buildings are used in photography shoots and advertisements. The places that once sold groceries and variety items have disappeared, including a mid-sized grocery store with reasonable prices. Readers should realize that times change, shopping changes, and that the changes are constant. Just as a series of tiny shops around Medina Public Square are not realistic, do realize that when a Dollar Store is built in a former residential area, that a quarter of the block will be torn down. Delivery trucks need separate access, there needs to be some parking for cars. Yet, turnover of inventory is low, and prices are fifty to a hundred percent above Walmart. If we wanted a small store on every nine blocks of land, do realize it means demolishing a quarter block of well-kept housing per store. And keep in mind that we have a mid-size supermarket that has been empty for ten years.

[@siefer117]

@@franzzrilich9041 Wal-Mart, and all big box stores, keep prices low because the nigh geographical monopolies they have when built allow for greater purchasing power from retailers, meaning they can work out better deals than smaller competitors. Also, due to being national chains, they are able to keep prices low and thus potentially have negative income as overperforming stores make up the difference. This creates the current situation North America is in where small business owners cannot realisticly compete against lower prices that come about due to big box's greater market share and not due to innovation (which is the entire point of the free market).

[@franzzrilich9041]

@@siefer117 Box stores buy from wholesalers, or directly from manufacturers, not retailers. In my grandparents' days, the smallest retailers pushed along carts on the sidewalks, the carts being burdened with simple commodities. No one is insisting we go back to such a form of trade. The entire point of the free market is low cost, not innovation. Box stores provide low prices and predictability. That is, the Home Depot in Wooster, Ohio, is much like the one in Medina. If I were installing a hot water heater in a relative's house, in Wooster, it would be identical to the one I had just installed in my house, here in Medina. Now, if a town has a Home Depot, and it is obvious that they have more business than they can handle, Menard's might move to Wooster. Also, as with Menard's, a well-positioned investor could get other investors together to create a new chain--call it Siefer's--and set up stores and offer something beter than does Menard's or Home Depot. A possible approach would be to lease closed-down Sears and/or Kmarts in zip code areas that are economically and demographically expanding. As regards availability of land upon which build, that is not a problem in most of Ohio.

[@siefer117]

@@franzzrilich9041 The first point was a mistake on my part, I will admit. The point of a free market is not low cost, but the cost where both buyers and sellers maximize their gain without overstepping and taking portions of said gain from each other. They find an equilibrium. To ensure neither the buyers nor sellers have too much power the ideal situation has many sellers and many buyers competing. Low prices can come from this competition, part of which is innovation. Big box stores remove a need to compete by having significant market share and can sometimes act as more of a cartel (even explicitly, as was the case in Canada with bread prices). These low prices that big box stores provide are a perversion of the free market, not a part of it. Also, if the point is low prices and predictability we would then theoretically want to live in a planned economy where volume and price is gauranteed by the government. Not even getting into the awful nature of suburban crawl, I find it ironic that you lament the loss of houses to bring small businesses to neighborhoods when you seem to champion retail choices that require parking lots that are the same size, if not greater, than the floor area of the stores themselves.

[@NDUWUISI]

Where has this channel been all my life?!

[@sunsetlights100]

CHEEJOEKAY I'm one week later than u ...comprehensive

[@gacherumburu9958]

Just discovered it..❣️

[@christianseehausen9264]

Check out the way Japan does zoning sometime. It's handled at the national level, not locally. Furthermore, for the most part, each more impactful usage still *permits* all the lower-impact usages to occur within. For example, it's totally okay to build any type of housing you want in a heavy commercial zone, but vice versa may not be permitted. This is in direct contrast to the United States, where zoning usually allows only one type of usage, and that's all.

[@CityBeautiful]

Yeah, US zoning is often not useful at all. But good luck getting zoning to be administered at the state level, let alone federal level, here in the US. "Local control" is the mantra.

[@Nicholas-f5]

@@CityBeautiful I feel in some ways local knowledge and culture should be incorporated within scientific reason and proper application of code.

[@Croz89]

I think Japan's system has its flaws. Sometimes you end up with a hodge podge of uses which cause problems, and I really think they need to implement some better minimum size standards (I appreciate land is expensive, but some residences, or even commercial buildings, are ridiculously small). Plus you have Japan's topsy turvy real estate market to deal with, where houses depreciate like cars, so are often poorly built and wastefully demolished.

[@musafawundu6718]

States actually have the power to do so legally. The political will is lacking. And succeeding in doing so and implementing a good set of regulations will require a lot of dexterity and have certain potential special interest groups either made compliant through cooptation or crushed.

[@RattusYu]

Same with Philippines, very helpful in protecting our neighborhood character. Alot of people do not realize its importance.

[@valerianus8632]

In Germany, the most common zoning type in every city is the mixed type, because it allows and ensures the mix of residental and commercial usages for a better urban live.

[@gacherumburu9958]

"Not just bikes" brought me here❣️ Great content! 👍👌

[@davidbuchananmba5624]

Thank you for this zoning breakdown. I am a residential realtor moving toward more commercial properties. Just discovered you KZbin. Love all so far.

[@CityBeautiful]

Thanks!

[@calsavestheworld]

BTW, your videos are very helpful to me as a public policy student. My school, Ryerson, is super crappy and these videos are much more practical and clear. Thanks very much for making them.

[@kevinduval369]

NYC has a lot of mixed used zoning.

[@CityBeautiful]

That's true! NYC was an early zoning pioneer and still is a leader in this area.

[@kevinduval369]

Although areas in Queens and Staten Island still maintain the suburban sytle zoning which is very sad to see but very nice to look at in a sense.

[@apv]

City Beautiful can you make a video on nyc zoning?

[@ravigopinathan2835]

+freedomking4568 Yeah and I think nyc is less population dense than paris, even though it has more tall skyscrapers. (+CityBeautiful I think I learned that from this youtube channel or another video like it:) It's really weird that it's less dense, and it's partly due to restrictive zoning regulations. The zoning in Queens, Staten Island and other areas promote the car culture. Maybe if there was less of that, there would be less opposition to a congestion pricing scheme for driving your car into the city. But realy most of the opposition is coming from NY state.

[@kevinduval369]

personally living in NYC, its very desolate in a lot of areas, especially the Bronx. Since we don't have much mixed use-you get a lot of SubURBAN housing such ass attached housing or alot of low density blended ares which are really a waste of space and don't do anything for the people living there to be in a cut up house. In reality, I saw a small stone house in the middle of midtown Manhattan with a brick fence near a church....ikr, a horrendous waste of space. This is why we need mixed zoning so nasty products like this cant be reproduced.

[@shadeblackwolf1508]

Zoning exists in europe too. In the netherlands we use zoning. "Residential" allows not just housing but also non-disruptive commercial, like most shops, offices that don't need new parking, and independent work from home companies. Commerial zones tend to allow offices or even homes above the shops. Even industrial can allow housing depending on it's nature. To recap simply. Zoning defines a primary use but secondary uses as long as they don't provide issues with the primary use or suffer risks from the primary use tend to be allowed.

[@crazyassailant]

Have you thought about doing a video analyzing cities with less zoning regulations, such as Houston, and their effect on city development? I think that would be highly interesting.

[@CityBeautiful]

Yes, a video on Houston is highly requested. It's on my list!

[@idettecharlie7385]

This is not boring and full of active elctronic thinking and keeps you moving on zoning. learning is full of energy.

[@darthutah6649]

Maybe some zoning is common sense such as keeping factories from being too close to residential development but you get a bunch of codes which impede the free market such as minimum parking requirements, view planes (I get that you want to show off your beautiful landmarks but do we really need to limit the height of buildings just so that people can see a park?), and minimum housing sizes. In my book, suburban communities can segregate the use of buildings but downtown areas should be mixed use development.

[@MRTOWELRACK]

Many municipal policies may be unclear, yet important. Capacity is huge (think people, traffic, water usage, etc.). Some areas lack the servicing for too many people. However, spreading out developments will cannibalize agricultural lands and aggregates (mining). View planes can be linked to real estate prices and heritage protection. Some municipal policies can be unjustified, but at least where I live (Ontario), there's a Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, which is independent from the municipality.

[@matrixman8582]

If factories are too loud, disturbing, or polluting too much, then residents can complain in court and make them move farther. No need for zoning

[@trent6319]

@@matrixman8582 This wouldn't really work due to the enviormental impact/ cost of moving a factory. I think its more realistic to just approve factories on a case by case scenario and make sure that specific factory works with the community and location.

[@franzzrilich9041]

@@trent6319 That won't work, case-by-case zoning. Your problem is that in healthy economies you have constant change. In practice, firms are created, constantly, and expand rapidly. And new technologies evolve, rapidly. So, a 500,000 square foot factory is built with 200 parking spots for the workers, a rail spur is added, and the firm finds business requires a larger plant, which is built elsewhere. What then happens if the factory owner sells the building to a broker, and the broker can finds as a new occupant a tree grinding facility? The wood is steamed, pressed into disposable dinner trays. Someone in the neighborhood objects, and rather than debate the matter, the dinner tray outfit moves to an industrial park. This happened a lot in older rustbelt cities.

[@Trainfan1055Janathan]

I like to design cities in my train simulator. When I do, I usually have a simple system I follow. Each block in the downtown area is a mixed zone that allows commercial and residential space. That way, if you wanted to, you could live near your work place. However, the residential areas in downtown are usually dense and comprising of mainly high-rise buildings. In the center of the downtown area is a transportation hub that services a subway, a tram and a bus line. The intercity trains will only stop at the downtown zones of each city. The subway stops at each zone in a city and the tram stops at each street. The residential zones will comprise mainly of small-, medium-, and large-sized houses. It will also have schools, colleges and universities. Also allowed in these zones are certain industrial buildings, but they can't produce smoke or harmful chemicals. Finally, there's an industrial zone that allows smoke-producing factories such as power stations and oil refineries. The airport is usually located far from the residential areas because I take into consideration whether or not the residents would be okay with hearing airplanes taking off and landing.

[@leila4601]

Thank you so much for this video! It taught me everything I needed to know. And I am using it for a paper for my Community and regional planning class!

[@Teyrxq8]

Mixed use zones FTW

[@mrjamesho]

Yousef They’re much healthier for humans and sustainable for the environment than single use zones.

[@Nicholas-f5]

Polyculture always wins!

[@dickiewongtk]

What even is a 'mixed use zone'. Isn't it just 'normal living space'?

[@adamsmailes5484]

The UK uses a more case-by-case system of planning permission. If I wanted to build anything on any bit of land I own, it would be considered based on how it affects the area. This means there is significantly more mixed-use areas.

[@aaronandreso.gamboa1883]

In South America in general we have no separation between residential and commercial areas, for example in my city, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in general, the space between your home and the walkside of the street have to be minimum 5m, that space must have a garden or a store, and if you are in a middle-high density area you can build a construction just in front of the walkside but the first story have to be only commercial.

[@JacksonReynolds]

Aarón Osinaga That is the best way to do it. Santa Cruz is a beautiful city. Much of Bolivia (especially Cochabamba) has done a good job with mixed-used developments, something with which we are generally poor at doing in the US.

[@archiguy1571]

Dear Dave, i would like to add something regarding the history of zoning that I think is interesting and hope you and others like. This is regarding the development of zoning codes. While zoning codes are as old as cities the idea of zoning different uses in a city comes out of the Industrial Age. An interesting story is that of Tony Garnier and his industrial city. He was a French architect who designed a city with separate uses where residential and industrial zones were separated. He proposed this idea because before the industrial revolution people loved and worked in the same areas. Once people became to work away from home and in factories which produced a lot of pollution, Garnier proposed to zone these areas from each other to give people a better life. He is considered an early modern planner whose work influenced Le Corbusier and his famous plan for Paris.

[@eastonhill8143]

I just discovered your channel! I got super nerdy excited about it! Thank you for the great content!

[@CityBeautiful]

Thanks! I love planning nerds!

[@CrashForce]

lol it's so weird to see photos of my city in videos like these.... at 1:32, the picture representing C-3 is not just an average picture of my city but those buildings are only a few mins away from where I live

[@CrashForce]

Btw two of the buildings in the picture, the one in the center and the one on the right side are residential condos meanwhile the building in the far left is a high density office building.

[@Char444]

It's not a good thing to share personal info like that on KZbin.. Anyone can figure out your address by knowing that you live close to those buildings..

[@CrashForce]

@@Char444 Appreciate the words of advice but the neighbourhood I live in is pretty dense and I tend to be very careful when talking about my where I'm from online.

[@RoccosModernKeyboards]

Thank you for making this information available to us! You are very interesting to listen to.

[@Oldiesyoungies]

Talk about Houston's zoning codes :)

[@TexMexTraveler]

Here in Houston, there are no zoning laws. While your video makes logical sense, and has a nice organized outlook, most of the situations you list in the video that could occur without zoning haven't happened in Houston. I'd like to know if you have an explanation as to how Houston, America's 4th largest city, can have no zoning but also not end up with a refinery next to a neighborhood or day care.

[@LouisOnAir]

Where I live, large residential areas have frequent parades of local shops and other commercial stuff on the main connecting roads so even in the middle of suburbia, you can pop to the shop on foot. Of course the US stereotype is having to drive to get milk so I hope you do integrate more local shops into residential areas and have more apartments in the city and increase walking/cycling potential.

[@ruzzelladrian907]

New York City and New Jersey have a stark contrast to each other. One has European style streets where residential and commercial are either next to each other or right on top and everywhere is walkable. The other has highways which cuts through neighborhoods which makes them disconnected and the only way to get around is by car.

[@tianadunbar3747]

Thank you so much for this detailed explanation!

[@musafawundu6718]

I just learned of the strict single family detached housing residential zones in many major US cities and how Minneapolis has implemented measures to end that.

[@tommeier8969]

"Large Distances between zones", the picture you show its just the city park of Berlin

[@cacereslisboa]

Tiergarten!!!!

[@jotsingh8917]

@@cacereslisboa Ich liebte ein Mädchen in Tiergarten, dort musste ich immer bis vier warten....

[@repairdrive]

Love this channel.

[@roryhanlon927]

I don't think its reasonable. I'm extremely glad I live in Europe.

[@aditya_raina_]

Or anywhere else other than North America.

[@ChireSakura]

QUESTION: Are you going to be at the National Conference in New Orleans next May? Would love to talk to you in person there.

[@CityBeautiful]

Hey there! I will not be attending the New Orleans conference. I'm in academia now so I attend conferences with other planning academics. I would love to go to an APA conference at some point, but not next year. Good luck in your planning endeavors!

[@ChireSakura]

Thanks for replying!

[@LasseRamson]

I'm a law student from Germany and I studied Planning/Zoning Law. It is an extremely interesting and dynamic field, and at least the German law changes from time to time. For example, this year a new zone-type was included in the Federal Act that defines the possible zones: The “Urban Zone”, which allows for mixed usage of space.

[@MariusRenn]

I would love to see a comparison to other zoning models such as those used in Germany. They encourage walkable neighborhoods and I feel address many of the problems mentioned here.

[@trent6319]

To compare it to dutch cities watch Not Just Bikes on yt I would really suggest there "Strong Towns" playlist

[@franzzrilich9041]

Most European practices likely would not work here. People here move more frequently for employment. When I was working, I lived in about two dozen places in three states. We tried to avoid situations where it seemed there would be noise and ctrime issues. Los Angeles, Exposition Park, was the worst. A woman a block away was killed and her body left in the bath water for several days in dense heat.

[@waffles2927]

Jacksonville, Florida where I live is going to reduce its zones. Mainly law enforcement zones Commented on: July 13, 2019

[@kumara5492]

I am new to this zoning. So, what does reducing its zones, mean ? When does that happen? I am planning to purchase a vacant land on Holmes County, Florida. And wondering if I have to deal with such zoning in future. Thank you,

[@GrahamLikeTheCrackers]

I'm a city planner and a Zelda nerd. Thank you so much for the Legend of Zoning! Hahaha

[@tee_toe7898]

Make a video about Houston zoning

[@dinev8002]

Meanwhile in other countries (especially asean) commercial and housing areas mixed together on a street/avenue. Also there's a ruko (rumah toko) which is a building consist of 2 floors. The first is the shops, and the 2nd is the shop owner's house.

[@clemensschlage4561]

I think using the picture (4:26) wasn't a good choice. It clearly looks like sprawl, but it isn't. It's a connection between the two downtowns of Berlin, Germany through the city's largest park, the Tiergarten, which is located right in the middle of the city. The Street's name is "Strasse des 17. Juli" . PS: Thanks for this great video

[@homfri111]

walking, biking and general community betterment does sound like a great thing and great way to interact with real world effects on your city and its people...but also want to affect zoning codes so i can build a shaky rattling dale gribble pole tower with a hot tub

[@TWolfe777]

Jim Crow South vs Black codes north is still vibrant in NYC and other major cities.

[@jeiku5314]

Mixed zones ftw! Unfortunately, they're only often found in old or dense cities.

[@1hard2findbro]

Outstanding work 🏆

[@stevieinselby]

There is a half-way house between the kind of zoning that you have in modern-day North America and full mixed-use zoning, if people are scared to adopt anything so alien to what they are used to, and that's to go for much smaller zones. Yes, you can still have dedicated residential areas but intersperse them with small commercial zones - especially those designed to provide local facilities like small shops, mom and pop stores, cafés and restaurants - rather than having a hundred miles of pure unadulterated yellow.

[@spetsnatzlegion3366]

It’s sort of trying to mirror the ridiculous amount of space the US has. In the UK, a small suburb a couple of km by a couple of km will have a grocery store, a pub, a restaurant or takeaway, maybe a church or school in addition to housing - you don’t even need to get in your car to go anywhere except larger stores or to go to work, in terms of things you do in day-to-day life, and often the commercial centre will be within cycling distance. However, we have noticeably less space than the US so we can’t really make huge swathes of single family housing and have to make use of the space we have more efficiently.

[@spark20]

This is great info. Thanks Napoleon!

[@paulstoertebez5163]

At 4:25 it might be better if you hadn't used the Berlin Tiergarten as an example picture for long distances. It's just a Parc in the centre of Berlin and is surrounded by commercial zones. ^^

[@plannerduck3136]

It would be really cool if you could do a video that further explains the Transect and Form Based Zoning codes. Also, it would be interesting if you covered General or Comprehensive Plans and the difference between land use and zoning.

[@scottcody2057]

Great video, I used it in my classroom. Just wish the speaker would SLOW DOWN his speech; it's a lot to comprehend.

[@CityBeautiful]

Thanks! Yes, slowing down is something I'm working on. Sorry about that!

[@scottcody2057]

Keep up the videos, I teach an Urban Design course at an East LA high school. These are great resources.

[@3c3c3c]

Europe: yeah just build everything together

[@MrMikeTauber]

I live in Orange County CA, our County and City Supervisors are still zoning (year 2021) Auto Dependent housing tracts and industrial parks. This is to eliminate anyone from mobility - unless they're qualified AND in daily condition to operate a motor vehicle. It's a failure! What or who is directing Zoning Planners? We might consider how property taxes bring revenue -VS- income to Planners (who pays them?) from 1. Fossil fuel taxes. 2. Automotive lobbyists 3. Tract home builders, and 3. Cal Trans. Oh well - the roads are crowded, let's bulldoze the trees and add another lane.

[@BlaxKid22]

I appreciate your page, thanks man.

[@CityBeautiful]

Thanks!

[@abdullahtshabal9522]

i live literally on the periphery between high-rise residential/mixed-use and low-level residential/single family houses.

[@Mateo-et3wl]

cool story bro

[@richiesd1]

Love your videos.

[@byvoid]

Great video. Can you make a video explaining why Huston is still not walkable even with no zoning law?

[@wininspn]

This video presumes that there is a need for zoning laws in the first place. The alternative of *no zoning laws* should be seriously considered. Do a video on *Houston,* and compare major cities in various developed countries.

[@CityBeautiful]

I'd love to do a video on Houston. Spoiler alert -- while they don't have zoning, they certainly regulate land use. They just use codes, covenants, and restrictions to a degree most cities do not.

[@SirKenchalot]

As someone who lived in Europe for a long time, I can't help but feel that zoning is a bad idea. Why wouldn't you want local shops within walking distance? Who really wants to drive and burn a gallon of gas just to buy a gallon of milk? Your oil refinery example is a straw man, implying that a lack of zones means no planning process ata ll; seriously where in the civilized world has that happened? Personally I found residential only areas incredibly dull and if you can't drive (yes that's right, some folks can't) then you're marooned with little chance to escape!

[@CityBeautiful]

Good points!

[@MrNateSPF]

It is not all like his SimCity example though, and zoning can be used to preserve the character of existing neighborhoods. An oil refinery next to homes would be on the extreme side, but there have been many times when inappropriate uses have sneaked their way in. That is not to say shops must be outside of walking distance of homes, we also have them right in the middle of neighborhoods too. I should also note that the zoning for a lot can be changed on a case by case basis.

[@danielrose1392]

Andy you would be surprised how much zoning is used, at least here in germany. It looks like a random mix, but it is sometimes a zoning code down to the individual house. I know the local zoning for my street, which is basically the entrance to a district. At the entrance of the district where it is loud anyways because of traffic, it is the only place where restaurants and bars are allowed. Anything opened past 22:00 has to be placed here. This is also the only place where shops of city-wide importance are allowed because traffic should be kept out of the small roads. A major bus stop is adjacent which allows everyone to reach the bars, restaurants and shops. A second cluster located in the center of the district optimizing walking distance for all residents. It is made up by a supermarket, pharmacy, bakery and doctors. This cluster is by zoning code intended for daily needs of the residents in the district. It is adjacent to the second bus stop where two lines meet, allowing residents from other districts to reach the doctors by bus. The reaming area is a residential area without commercial use. You may get a permission for commercial use when you cause only minor (noise) emissions. For example a plumber and architect have their buildings in my street. Despite being quiet, a doctor for example would not be allowed in most residential streets, because it would not be accessible by bus. What looks like randomly mixed use, is often well planned to end up in a nice city with short ways.

[@DavidWilliamsaz]

I think that Japan has a lot good ideas on zoning codes. n Laissez-Faire in Tokyo Land Use I pointed to Japan’s constitutional protection of property rights and it’s relatively laissez-faire approach to land use to explain why housing prices in Japan have not risen in past decades, as they have elsewhere in the developed world. A very useful post at Urban kchoze offers more detail on Japan’s zoning system. Here are some of the key points. Japan has 12 basic zones, far fewer than is typical in an American city. The zones can be ordered in terms of nuisance or potential externality from low-rise residential to high-rise residential to commercial zone on through to light industrial and industrial. But, and this is key, in the US zones tend to be exclusive but in Japan the zones limit the maximum nuisance in a zone. So, for example, a factory can’t be built in a residential neighborhood but housing can be built in a light industrial zone. …[the] Japanese do not impose one or two exclusive uses for every zone. They tend to view things more as the maximum nuisance level to tolerate in each zone, but every use that is considered to be less of a nuisance is still allowed. So low-nuisance uses are allowed essentially everywhere. That means that almost all Japanese zones allow mixed use developments, which is far from true in North American zoning. …[The] great rigidity in allowed uses per zone in North American zoning means that urban planing departments must really micromanage to the smallest detail everything to have a decent city. Because if they forget to zone for enough commercial zones or schools, people can’t simply build what is lacking, they’d need to change the zoning, and therefore confront the NIMBYs. And since urban planning departments, especially in small cities, are largely awful, a lot of needed uses are forgotten in neighborhoods, leading to them being built on the outskirts of the city, requiring car travel to get to them from residential areas. Meanwhile, Japanese zoning gives much more flexibility to builders, private promoters but also school boards and the cities themselves. So the need for hyper-competent planning is much reduced, as Japanese planning departments can simply zone large higher-use zones in the center of neighborhoods, since the lower-uses are still allowed. If there is more land than needed for commercial uses in a commercial zone, for example, then you can still build residential uses there, until commercial promoters actually come to need the space and buy the buildings from current residents. In addition, residential means residential without discrimination as to the type or form of resident: …In Japan…residential is residential. If a building is used to provide a place to live to people, it’s residential, that’s all. Whether it’s rented, owned, houses one or many households, it doesn’t matter. This doesn’t mean that people can build 10-story apartment blocs in the middle of single-family houses (at least, not normally). As I mentioned, there are maximum ratios of building to land areas and FAR that restricts how high and how dense residential buildings may be. So in low-rise zones, these ratios mean that multifamily homes must also have only one to three stories, like the single-family homes around them. So in neighborhoods full of small single-family homes, you will often see small apartment buildings full of what we would call small studio apartments: one room with a toilet.> In short, as the author concludes, Japan’s zoning laws are more rational, more efficient and fairer than those used in the United States. marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2016/08/the-japanese-zoning-system.html

[@truerthanyouknow9456]

I’m so impressed that he mentioned how zoning was used to uphold racism explicitly.

[@J.5.M.]

Great video!

[@AceTycho]

Another great video

[@RoboCoonie]

ACtually, Cities: Skylines does allow you to dictate districts and their specific zoning restrictions, so there is a video game that simulates developing of zoning restrictions.

[@markr7083]

hey youre from the 916 too!

[@CityBeautiful]

Sac represent!

[@1966bluemax]

Markus Reyes used to be from 916

[@JonJohnsonRealEstate]

This was great Thank you

[@marksmith8079]

Japan's zoning- nationally set with some little local allowances- is apparently totally incremental (i.e. S1 is S1+ X, S3 is s2:Y all the way up to S10) which at the base level allows small shops and compact residences. All those levels in US cities are a mess and make commercial development more difficult . Japan has the problem that incremental level mean that if a residence is in a basically high density commercial area then you cant discourage them so land prices are inflated.

[@fake734]

I want to live in a no zone neighborhood !

[@salim777star]

Great info✨

[@bonitaextra6904]

Very informational especially for anyone thinking about getting a masters in city planning. While zoning is instrumental in forming how buildings look and relate to the public realm, zoning implements a city’s general plan or comprehensive plan. The plan contains the vision and goals for a city’s long-term growth. (Yes, even Houston now has a general plan.) Do a video on a city’s comprehensive/general plan.

[@CityBeautiful]

Coming next month!

[@notenoughpaper]

In my city, there is no zoning. I find it hard to believe that zoning is necessary, Instead, everything should be decided on a case by case basis, except for maybe single family residential areas.

[@Oldiesyoungies]

do you live in Houston?

[@danielrose1392]

Where do you live? Would be interesting to see the results and if the city is usable without a car. In my home town (Paderborn, Germany) they regret a lack of zoning around some supermarkets. Residential only buildings where built directly adjacent and now there is no space for new shops like drugstores or bakeries.

[@notenoughpaper]

Daniel Rose I live in Dresden, Germany. You can get everywhere by bike and we have well developed public transit (trams and buses). You can get everyehere in the city in less than 1 hour, in the citycenter less than 30 min.

[@danielrose1392]

There is zoning, you may know it by the German name "Flächennutzungsplan". The difference is, it is a much more detailed plan, which intentionally mixes uses. I gave an example in a different comment below. Sometimes individual houses are rezoned to allow other uses like bars and restaurants because at these specific places there is a low impact on residential neighbors.

[@jaspboynl8094]

In the Netherlands there is something like that, here are many buildings with commercial in street level and appartements on top of them.

[@alexnjsikoko]

thanks for explaining

[@matthewcollins4764]

Mixed use with good regulations

[@Mr1X]

4:29 - Tiergarten Berlin Germany as watched from Victory Statue.

[@agme8045]

America is like a whole different world, in my city most buildings have shops on the first floor, so u have everything near you, and residential areas aren’t residential by law, is people who shape the city and chose where to open a shop or if they prefer a residential neighborhood, etc. I think is better this way, plus its safer because theres people constantly walking on the streets.

[@calsavestheworld]

Aw, I want to go to that surf shop.

[@KTo288]

does this mean you don't have residential flats above shops like we have in Europe, and high rise residential blocks over shopping malls like we have in East Asia?

[@NolePTR]

Form based is fine IF you include noise restrictions.

[@pongop]

Cool video! Now I'm hungry for Indian food.

[@cardenasr.2898]

A bit hard to get into, since I'm much more used to the SimCity zone colours: Residential, green; Commercial, blue; Industrial, yellow/brown; Institutional and Facilities, red.

[@autumnmaru]

I have so many questions about districts that really I'll ask one. What are the limit of buildings a district must have to be considered a district?

[@gurdevsinghsidhuofficer9682]

In USA can I build in a county, an unincorporated or unanneexed area, say of 20 acres, adjoining a city ? What kind of permits will be required ?

[@PkrBarMovie]

What zone would office buildings be part of? I would assume commercial but I'm not sure since they're not technically "retailing" or selling anything directly to customers.

[@calculon000]

Would you be able to provide a link to the document you featured at 4:44 showing the different types of building fronts?

[@flo-rida5535]

How does it work for areas that are outside of city limits and there is no zoning map on the city website? For example all the rural farmland that is miles outside of a city

[@mitchellhoover9643]

Any good books to learn more about zoning codes?

[@andretsang7337]

How do you make it better? Remove it. Build mid rise everywhere.

[@misswhitegrape0225]

The Wal-Mart in my city does not look like a typical Wal-Mart. That's because the city told Wal-Mart their building had to match the other buildings in the area they were building in.

[@moeramati2085]

HI, Thank you. very helpful what does two zones below means? THX re11-1-k-rio HAR2*

[@howardcitizen2471]

The inherent problem with zoning is that it involves so-called government experts who impose their ideas of what they think the best use, best design, and construction type should be.

[@CityBeautiful]

The actual planning process includes a diverse group of planners, developers, designers, and public officials. Zoning ordinance revisions typically incorporate significant public feedback.

[@Randomusername382]

How can we make mixed use zoning areas more affordable to live in? It’s hard to get people on board when they build mixed use zoning up and price out current residents.

[@dawneabdulal-bari9313]

Good to know! Thanks

[@ErikStrikes]

You should do a video of Houston’s no zoning law

[@steveg4082]

Zoning is based on mobility assumptions. Is public transportation available? Do residents walk? How far? Where are drivers going to park their cars? My walkable town lost it's one food market because it was too far to walk to. Also, what use are empty mandatory bike racks for businesses where biking is impractical (isolated hilltop served by a 45 mph road with no bike lane)? I guess it's just easier to zone in bike racks for new construction than to ask building owners to spend money 😱 to add them later. So our city should become bike friendly sometime in the 2030s. Maybe.

[@tmfan3888]

hi, im from hong kong, a very densely populated city (almost no single family houses, most r highrise residential) and i think my neighbourhood is well planned as all commercial zones r within walkable distances. i hate those extremely car-dependent N american cities since u need to drive fkin long distances just to get to the nearest supermarket. (disclaimer: lived in CA for 1 yr

[@GlobalWarmingSkeptic]

I would prefer zones to be exclusive rather than inclusive. Like for example, put exclusion zones around residences for producing noise beyond certain decibel levels, production of certain chemicals or emissions, things like that. When you specify the exact uses of property, it makes the city rigid. I think that cities should operate how people use them, not how a government defines that they use them. There needs to be a certain level of organization, but at the end of the day cities are built for people, not governments and their donors, and supply and demand should reflect how cities are used so long as it isn't infringing upon reasonable standards of other residents.

[@amu_meh]

Please make a video on Form Based Code. :)

[@grandexandi]

Can cities grow efficiently without zoning restrictions? I mean, if people could do anything in their lots, wouldn't it sort of self-regulate organically, via a supply-and-demand natural selection?

[@unfvzedmak]

My city just approved a zoning change for shipping containers to be used as commercial, now everybody wants a shipping container area/wharf

[@drjny]

The speed of dialogue was faster in this video than most of the others.