How Zoning Shapes Our Cities

Have you ever wondered why our cities look the way they do? Some locations boast towering skyscrapers while other places have rows of 2 story shops on boulevards. Some areas might be as simple as houses lined up next to each other. The main reason for all this urban diversity is zoning.

Many of the great and energetic cities that we love today were once just forests or fields. People moved and created these cities which drew tons of attention for a chance of a better life. In the modern world, there are many things we look out for in our cities. For example, how cities are connected, where will new housing or industry be, what do we do with an empty plot of land, and most importantly, how do we keep the city diverse and functioning?

The ways our cities look and how they will progress in the future is dictated mostly by urban planning. Urban planning is the field of directing the development of cities. Urban planners work with governments or community organizations in order to make cities better. One of the main ways they organize development is through zoning codes.

What are zoning codes? Well they are essentially a set of rules that say what you can build on a property and what you can’t. For example, urban planners would allocate an area for industrial usage only. A company now can build a manufacturing site there if they purchase the land, but they wouldn’t be allowed to construct a residential community however. 

Let’s take San Francisco for example. San Francisco has many zoning labels but they mostly all fall under the categories of residential, commercial, industrial, mixed-use, or special zoning. 

If we look a bit deeper at the residential labels in San Francisco, we find RH-1, RH-2, RH-3, and RM. Each of the numbers represent different permitted densities and they each allow different types of residential buildings, along with different types of small businesses in these neighborhoods.

However the point of that example isn’t to talk in depth about codes, rather it was to show the vast array of hidden codes that dictate what is in each block. In fact, your town or city probably also has zoning codes and maps to display this. To best find this information, go to your city’s official website and search for the zoning map or ordinances. If you check on applications like Google Maps, you might see how the different locations of different houses line up with the zoning code.

All in all, zoning is crucial to cities and their development. As urban areas in America continue to face struggles from poor choices made in previous years, it is important to acknowledge the problem and bring change to make the places we live more livable.