Arbitrary Lines

How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It

By: M. Nolan Gray

Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne

The arbitrary lines of zoning maps across the country have come to dictate where Americans may live and work, forcing cities into a pattern of growth that is segregated and sprawling.

The good news is that reform is in the air, with states across the country critically reevaluating zoning. In cities as diverse as Minneapolis, Fayetteville, and Hartford, the key pillars of zoning are under fire, with apartment bans being scrapped, minimum lot sizes dropping, and off-street parking requirements disappearing altogether. Some American cities already make land-use planning work without zoning.

In Arbitrary Lines, Gray lays the groundwork for this ambitious cause by clearing up common confusions and myths about how American cities regulate growth and examining the major contemporary critiques of zoning. Gray sets out some of the efforts currently underway to reform zoning and charts how land-use regulation might work in the post-zoning American city.

Gray shows how zoning has failed to address even our most basic concerns about urban growth over the past century, and how we can think about a new way of planning a more affordable, prosperous, equitable, and sustainable American city.

©2022 M. Nolan Gray (P)2022 Tantor

Best book on zoning and the housing crisis

Best book on zoning and the housing crisis and how we can end it now

A Great Primer on Zoning, Its Origins, and Its Drawbacks

This book explains the racist history behind zoning and the problems zoning causes today. It explains how zoning is unrelated to planning.

Distorting effects of zoning on cities

A good overview of zoning for someone who doesn’t know a lot about it - what it does and doesn’t do and how it has affected urban development. I recommend the book to pro-urbanist laypeople like me who like watching YouTube channels such as Not Just Bikes or CityNerd or who have read Strong Towns but who have no formal training in city planning.

A compelling case to abolish zoning

The author argues that the 100 yr old experiment with zoning has not only created vast inequities and perpetuated racial and classist segregation, but it has failed to fulfill the promises it makes. This book makes a strong case that our cities will be more profitable, productive, livable, and equitable if we abolish - not just reform - zoning.

Abolish Zoning

America’s been shooting itself in the foot for too long, this was a great read. I love that he finished it with recommendations. Wish there were more city examples for zoning.