Not true. Paris had zoning laws (including building height restrictions and business location restrictions) since before Haussman, in the early 1800s[0]. New Y

Not true. Paris had zoning laws (including building height restrictions and business location restrictions) since before Haussman, in the early 1800s[0]. New York passed the first US laws, as far as I can tell from a quick search (although I do see vague references to San Francisco using zoning laws against the Chinese in the 1880s, and a lot of people, including Wikipedia, quoting a more limited achievement of 'the first comprehensive/city-wide zoning laws' for New York), but Europe definitely predated them. I believe Germany and some other countries also had them, besides France. [0]: http://books.google.com/books?id=dONVGtJzxrwC&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=The+decree+of+26+March+1852&source=bl&ots=mtfyfzosLr&sig=j1cu4n1UQN4XaaYNR7uYKDHF0Zs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LzV0UqWrBoj-igKLiIFo&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The%20decree%20of%2026%20March%201852&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=dONVGtJzxrwC&pg=PA20&lpg=PA...