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Abolish Outdated Zoning Codes To Save On Fuel

Posted by: Chris Steins
Thanks to: Anthony Flint
17 June 2006 - 1:00pm

Most municipalities strictly prohibit mixed-use development. Changing these laws to encourage compact development would reduce the nation's dependence on gas, writes Anthony Flint.

"These provisions once made sense. At the beginning of the last century, cities were unhealthy, crowded places. Progressive reformers responded with stricter rules for building and zoning that separated the then-messy functions of life. Homes needed to be in one zone, slaughterhouses and tanneries in another, pubs and stores in yet another...

...What we need is to abolish zoning as we know it. Start over. Short of that, we should change the most outdated provisions that stand in the way of compact, concentrated development."

Full Story: Zoning Out
Source: The Boston Globe, June 4, 2006
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