| In general, zoning is the division of an area into sub-areas, called zones.
Land use
Zoning is a system of land use regulation which designates the permitted uses of land based on location. One purpose of zoning is to prevent
new development from harming existing residents or businesses.
Zoning commonly includes regulation on the kinds of activities which will be acceptable on particular lots (such as open space, residential, agricultural,
commercial or industrial), the
densities at which those activities can be performed (low density housing such as single family homes to high density such as apartment buildings), the height of buildings, the amount of space structures may occupy by limiting how close a building may be from the edge of the
lot, the proportions of the types of space on a lot (for example, how much
landscaped space and how much paved space), and how much parking must be
provided.
Most zoning systems have a procedure for granting variances - exceptions to the zoning rules, usually because of some perceived hardship due to the
particular nature of the property in question.
Arguments against zoning generally center around the concept of regulatory taking. In the United States, takings
are forbidden by the Fifth Amendment, unless there is due process and compensation. The Supreme Court has ruled that this eminent domain
process is unnecessary unless the owner would lose "substantially all" of the use of the land, which generally means that the
land must be taken outright for this to be invoked.
Land use zoning was once considered an important tool in the treatment of certain social ills, a part of the larger concept of social engineering. Some jurisdictions attempting to manage growth have
turned to comprehensive planning to coordinate the growth of housing, industry, commercial with the impacts
growth has on issues such as transport, utilities, recreation, schools, fire protection and police
protection.
In more recent times, zoning has come to be seen as a source of new social ills, including the separation of homes from working places and the rise of the
automobile culture.
New York City adopted the first zoning regulations to apply city-wide in 1916 as a reaction to construction of The
Equitable Building (which still
stands at 120 Broadway). The building towered over the neighboring residences and cast long shadows that diminished the quality of life for the people in the affected area. These laws written by a commission headed by Edward Basset and signed by Mayor John Purroy Mitchel became the blueprint for the rest of the country (partly because Edward Basset headed the group of planning laws that wrote
The Standard State Zoning Enabling Act, which was accepted almost without change by
most states) and by the late 1920s most of the nation would have developed a set of
zoning regulations that met the needs of the locality. New York went on to develop ever more complex set of zoning regulations,
including floor area ratio
regulations, air rights and others
according to the density-specific needs of the neighborhoods.
There was a notable legal challenge to zoning regulations. In 1926 the Supreme Court upheld zoning as a right of U.S. states
(typically via their cities and counties)
to impose on landowners. The case was Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler
Realty Co. (often shortened to Euclid v. Ambler), 272 U.S. 365
(1926). The village had zoned an area of land held by Ambler Realty as a residential
neighborhood. Ambler argued that it would lose money because if the land could be leased to industrial users it would have netted
a great deal more money than as a residential area. Euclid won, and a precedent
was set favorable to local enforcement of zoning laws.
Specific zoning laws have been overturned in some other U.S. cases where the laws were not applied evenly (violating equal protection) or were considered to violate free speech. In the Atlanta suburb of Roswell, Georgia, an ordinance banning billboards was overturned in court on such grounds.
On other occasions, religious institutions sought to circumvent zoning laws, citing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of
1993 (RFRA). The Supreme Court eventually (in 1997) overturned RFRA
in just such a case, City of Boerne v.
Flores.
Other uses of the concept of zoning
Pricing
In many cities, fares for public transport depend on the number of zones in which a rider travels. London has recently zoned the central city for a high toll called the London
Congestion Charge (£5 GBP) to reduce traffic.
Telephone service may be zoned so that calls to the immediate area are free,
calls to adjoining zones incur a small toll and calls to the other side of the metro area incur a somewhat higher toll even though they may all be considered a
"local" (non-long-distance) call.
See Zone pricing.
Environmental controls
Zoning may be implemented in air conditioning systems so that
heating and cooling go where they are needed. For example, a house may be fitted with
two thermostats,one for upstairs and one for downstairs. Residential HVAC
zoning is most often used in radiant heating systems in the floor or ceiling, or with regular radiators.
Irrigation sprinklers are
almost always zoned, so that water pressure
does not drop when the entire system is turned on at once. It is also extremely useful for controlling flow rates to areas with
plants that need more or less water, or frequency of watering.
Permaculture / agricultural design
Here zoning on a scale of 0 to 5 indicates the
amount of effort put into getting a yield (harvest). Zone 0 is commonly just the house (sleeping and living done here). Zone 1
may be the immediate backyard, and the front drive. Zone 2 may be the lawn and herb garden which you visit every day, to play or
to gather herbs for cooking. Zone 3 can contain the vegetable plot where you spend a couple of afternoons a week working. Zone 4
is an area that only requires input occasionally, maybe it is a 'wild patch' which you harvest for mulch, or a quiet space at the
back of your garden where 'wild' berries are harvested. Zone 5 is commonly regarded as 'wilderness' where neither input or yield
is sought, it is left entirely to nature.
Informational
Burglar alarm systems are often zoned as
well, expecially in the case where different people will have different access levels
to different rooms. Fire alarms are also sometimes done in this manner, though only in
particular situations where fire cannot spread beyond a firewall or other method of containment.
Railroad lines are zoned into blocks
with block signals, with only one
train allowed in a block at a time. Such traffic control is done in a similar
way to air traffic control.
In computing, fibre
channel storage area networks are zoned similarly, with
certain servers allowed access to only certain storage devices. See fibre channel
zoning.
In the Sonic the Hedgehog Video Games, Zones are the names of stages
in a certain group. For example, the Winter Levels are part of Ice Cap zone.
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