Book Club Reflections: Key to the City
- The Journey Team
- Feb 20
- 2 min read
Last week Journey’s Lauren Mattern hosted zoning expert and professor Sara Bronin at ACT’s inaugural book and author series to discuss her zoning book Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes our World. Here are five of our favorite takeaways from the book and the discussion:
Most of our zoning codes are frozen in time, detached from reality, and going unexamined for decades.
Nearly every detail of a zoning code is “transportation demand management (TDM)” – for example, large lot sizes, single family only zoning, and all other details that push apart or limit uses, increasing walking distances.
States and MPOs can get in on the transit-oriented zoning game too. At Journey we are eying the results of implementation of the MBTA Connected Communities in Massachusetts and the Transit Oriented Communities Policy implementation in the Bay Area. It is worth remembering that jurisdictions get their zoning authority delegated by the states.
Zoning is a much broader and more creative tool than we sometimes realized. It can be used for coordinating nighttime economy and culture, retaining our most treasured historic districts, allowing urban food production, and creating new maker spaces that help define a local culture. Mixed-use zoning can be linked to reductions in obesity, asthma, and crime rates.
Zoning policies should match the strength or weakness of the development market. E.g., in a struggling low-growth city, removing zoning barriers may be more appropriate than inclusionary zoning or similar new regulations. Removing parking minimums has helped other zoning rules succeed, allowing projects to better pencil out.
We think Dr. Shoup would be proud of this growing crew of zoning and parking changemakers. Zoning, after all, hides in plain sight and may be the most powerful locus of control a local jurisdiction has. As the affordability crisis hits home across communities of all political permutations, we as an industry must be ready to offer transformative zoning solutions. We know there are many other contributors to rising housing costs. However, the author estimates that about 75% of urban and suburban zoned land in the US requires single-family, detached houses and allow no other kind. With too many Americans transportation insecure and isolated from walkable destinations, we know we have an immense to-do list in zoning codes across our country.
