2019/12/06 by Jake Wegmann · 2 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Housing Market and Economics #Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies #Urbanization and City Planning
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/01944363.2019.1651217
openalex publication_date 2019/12/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Planners in the United States and Canada should stop defending single-family zoning, the single most harmful widely used practice in planning. In the century since first adoption, it has exacerbated both inequality and climate change. Land use regulations that make a singly occupied, detached house on a large parcel the only allowable option should be replaced, wherever they exist, with new rules that allow medium-density, or “Missing Middle,” housing to be built by right. These changes should be applied broadly at the scale of an entire city or, best of all, a state, rather than piecemeal. Encouraging recent events in Minneapolis (MN), Oregon, and elsewhere show that single-family zoning is being seriously challenged for the first time, but more progress is needed.