Race/Segregation

An Economic History of Zoning and a Cure for Its Exclusionary Effects

Published: 2001 | William A. Fischel | Urban Studies Abstract I outline the twentieth-century history of American zoning to explain how homeowners came to dominate its content and administration in most jurisdictions. Zoning’s original purpose was to protect homeowners in…

The Racial Origins of Zoning in American Cities

Published: 1997 | Christopher Silver Abstract This book chapter points out zoning’s early social function as a legal mechanism for separating immigrant and African American populations, serving to preserve property values or enforce racial segregation. It shows that the narrative…