Key to the city How zoning shapes our world

Bronin, a professor of urban planning at Cornell University, debuts with a lively survey of the arcane regulations that shape American cities. Central to her exploration is the inequity and monotony caused by America's many neighborhoods zoned to exclude anything but single-family homes. She begins with the case study of Houston versus its tony suburb West University Place, which demonstrates how both deregulation and restrictive zoning end up harming the poorest. As Bronin explains, Houston's famously unregulated construction keeps housing cheap but allows for building in dangerous flood zones and promotes environment-destroying sprawl; meanwhile, West U is exclusive and upper-class, with a total ban on new multifamily housing. Bronin argues instead for zoning that is both safety and environmentally conscious and pro-multifamily, as well as for undoing policies that make cities more pleasurable for visitors than for residents. Her proposed solutions range from deregulation--like eliminating parking requirements for new construction--to more regulation, like using zoning to corral the nuisance sprawl of clubs and bars linked to the South by Southwest festival in Austin. While Bronin analyzes the classist and racist effects of zoning, she makes an off-key effort to downplay the classist and racist motivations behind their persistence (she chalks it up to "inertia"), unhelpfully obfuscating the political component of the zoning battle instead of tackling it head-on. Still, it's a brisk, informative overview of America's urban planning woes and wins. (Oct.)

The many benefits of land-use controls for cities and their residents. Bronin, former chair of the Hartford, Connecticut, Planning and Zoning Commission and professor of law and city and regional planning at Cornell University, maintains that livable, prosperous, and sustainable cities require a sensitive, flexible application of zoning regulations. To make her case, and among numerous other examples, she tells of how zoning revitalized the Remington neighborhood in Baltimore by legalizing nonresidential uses, supported historic preservation in Galveston, nurtured urban farming in Boston, and manages Las Vegas' unique signage. She also writes of instances when zoning has been problematic--e.g., stifling affordable, multifamily housing in West University Place, Texas, and squandering water resources in Scottsdale, Arizona. Although Bronin acknowledges that "zoning too often intrudes and imposes on deeply personal choices," she believes that with "sensible reforms" it can realize its potential as "a tool that can be used creatively, imaginatively, and carefully to build community in an ethical and intentional way." The author omits one important caveat: zoning does not initiate or execute development. If investment is absent and disinvestment has overwhelmed residents and property owners--cases she discusses--zoning loses its relevancy. Still, though it may not be "the key to our cities," as she claims, it is hard to imagine a regulatory technology more critical for well-functioning and livable urban areas. Even Houston, known for its lack of a zoning ordinance, employs regulatory devices via other means. Bronin brings to life the impact of zoning on people and places and makes a convincing case for its importance. An ardent and articulate argument for expansive regulation of urban development. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.