North-American zoning: Real-estate regulation-past, present and future

Abstract

In the United States and Canada, zoning is primarily a tool for the regulation of real-estate development and only secondarily an element of city planning. This is so historically speaking-zoning was adopted primarily as a means of controlling nuisances that could lessen property values-and it is so in contemporary planning practice. As a regulatory tool, zoning is necessarily a local affair; but as a planning tool, it must necessarily become a supra-municipal one. Historical and contemporary material from Canada and from the United States buttress a critical argument on the past, present and likely future of zoning in these countries.