4 ms·
Living in a city like Houston without conventional zoning means lots of great and interesting buildings, but it also means that the worst apartments get put rig
by inamberclad 4y ago
Living in a city like Houston without conventional zoning means lots of great and interesting buildings, but it also means that the worst apartments get put right next to the highway, industrial facilities can be co-located with your residence, and transport and sidewalks are a nightmare.
Zoning can and should be used for things like ensuring efficient highways and walking areas, and keeping people safe from pollutants. Too often though, it's used as an instrument of class warfare, keeping the overlap of affordable and nice as small as possible.
- zip1234 4y agoAll of these things: "the worst apartments get put right next to the highway, industrial facilities can be co-located with your residence, and transport and sidewalks are a nightmare" happen in places with zoning. Houston is not perfect and certainly their transportation policy is not great, but zoning doesn't solve any of those. Lines on a map designating an industrial area and such seems so orderly, but in practice those zones have to butt against each other. Meaning it happens often that 'incompatible uses' go near each other. Zoning solves nothing about the real problems that zoning is supposed to solve, which is negative externalities like noise, traffic, etc. Those are best fixed with purpose built rules such as noise ordinances. Someone in a 'residential' neighborhood can have a car louder than an industrial plant. Zoning doesn't address that at all.