As Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover championed the Standard Zoning Enabling Act. Rick Cole argues it is time to leave Hoover's legacy behind.
"Under zoning, new neighborhoods were segregated by income, and commerce was torn asunder from both customers and workers. Timeless ways of creating great places were ruthlessly outlawed. The sprawl spawned by zoning spread from sea to shining sea.
Almost everyone admits the environmental and social devastation caused by sprawl. Yet it remains the law. What's been lacking is the tool for producing great places instead of bleak, auto-dependent landscapes. If "zoning" is the DNA of sprawl the coding that endlessly replicates the bleak landscape of autotopia, then what is the DNA of livable communities?
It is found in timeless ways of building, updated for the 21st Century, including the need to accommodate cars. It regulates incompatible uses without the absurdities of conventional zoning. It is calibrated for new buildings to contribute to their context and to the larger goal of making a great place. It does so primarily by regulating the form of buildings, since that is what determines the long-neglected public realm of streets and sidewalks."
Read the full story: Hoover’s Other Error: Making Sprawl the Law
100 Years ago, Zoning Changed how US Cities Grow. Today, it is Ripe for Reform.
Euclidean zoning was enshrined in U.S. town planning by a 1926 Supreme Court decision. Cities are recognizing it’s time for some drastic changes.
Arlington’s New Form-Based Zoning Designed to Guide a Cohesive Public Realm
Form-based zoning focuses on the design of buildings and how they interact with the public realm.
Rural New York Explores Creative Housing Solutions
Rural communities and small cities are implementing affordable housing solutions at the local level, while the state budget prioritizes urban areas.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
‘Hoodwinked:’ New Mexico bill aimed at microgrids paves way for data center development
In an interview with High Country News, Padilla said the legislation “ignited” New Mexico's economy.
California’s ‘unrecognizable’ water plan may go down the drain
After four years of regulatory processes, water agencies say the plan to overhaul how cities and farms take water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has changed dramatically.
Chicago Avenue bridge construction delays enrages city leaders
The bridge has been closed since 2025. The city originally aimed to re-open it in December, and now expects to finish construction in 2027.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority