This is a great introduction to the problems with zoning. The author describes how zoning works, its origins, and the costs it imposes on our cities and towns. He offers many ideas for how to improve zoning while keeping the basic structure. But I appreciated his bold idea of simply abolishing zoning. Let's do something radical to solve our housing problems!

The major purpose of this book is to show that because zoning strictly limits housing construction, zoning contributes to rising rents (by limiting housing supply), suburban sprawl (by pricing people out of walkable cities), and economic stagnation (by making it expensive for people to move to the most economically dynamic cities). On each count, Gray makes a persuasive (to me) case- though because this is a popular book rather than a scholarly one, Gray doesn't fully address anti-housing counterarguments. (If you want a scholarly treatment of pro-zoning counterarguments, you might wish to google my own work or Vicki Been's work on "supply skepticism.")

In addition to covering this well-trodden ground, Gray covers some issues I have not thought about so much, most notably the historical origins of zoning, Japan's more successful zoning rules, and its failure to control nuisance land uses.

As to the former, the conventional justification of zoning is that it protects residential neighborhoods from big, smelly factories. But Gray shows that even in the 1910s when the first zoning codes were created, one purpose of zoning was to exclude the poor and nonwhites from rich areas.

Gray notes that while housing costs are skyrocketed in other countries, Tokyo is "remarkably affordable." Why? Japan's national government limits local governments to 12 zoning districts; even though cities can choose between them, they cannot make the law more complex by adding additional districts, thus making housing construction easier. In addition, no zoning district is allowed to completely exclude apartments (unlike in the U.S.)

Finally, Gray notes that zoning has not been particularly successful in limiting pollution, for three reasons. First, areas near zoning boundaries are still subject to pollution: for example, if street 1 is zoned for smelly factories and streets 2-20 are zoned for housing, streets 2 and 3 might be close enough to the factory to suffer from pollution. Second, even a permitted activity can be obnoxious: for example, a cell phone store can blast music out into the street, turning an ordinarily innocuous activity into a nuisance. Third, cities often use zoning to dump noxious activities into low-income areas, ensuring that the poor don't get the benefits of zoning.

As an alternative, Gray suggests the following reforms: First, eliminate today's zoning codes- especially the parts that get in the way of housing construction. Second, as an alternative, cities should enact activity-by-activity regulations such as noise ordinances, as well as laws limiting universally unpopular activities such as smelly industries and floodplain development. Third, Gray suggests that neighborhoods should be allowed to voluntarily opt-in to stricter rules. (It seems to me that this would allow some of the problems of the status quo to reappear, so I am not sure I agree here).

Finally, Gray suggests that urban planners themselves would benefit from widespread deregulation. Currently, planners waste time refereeing fights between developers and neighborhood activists. But in a post-zoning system, developers could focus on shaping the physical form of the city: street design and design of other public spaces.

This book is a great read, if only for the first part that does an excellent job explaining the planning profession in layman’s terms.

I am an urban planner in California, and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning student. I think a lot of his issues with zoning are fair critiques. While not unique to this book, it does an excellent job of summarizing a lot of the issues discussed in professional circles.

I am giving this book a four star review, however, because despite the authors clear qualifications on the subject, and excellently compiled review of the profession and issues, many of the solutions come from narrow vision. He often asserts aspect of urban theory, such as densities leading to lower rates of car ownership , from misguided western centric planning perspectives that do not reflect realities of some of the largest cities on earth. Indeed, I thought it was ironic to read a “lions share” of the book while on vacation in Mumbai, India as the on the ground reality here flips a lot of the “theory” regarding organic city growth that the author relies so heavily on on its head.

While I do agree with certain elements, the critique of it being libertarian is fair: the author wants to put increased power in the hands of developers, who have historically, in their profit chasing efforts, shown us that they aren’t good faith actors deserving of that trust.

I also felt the book was written for the non-planner, and ergo decided to forego statistics that would actually reinforce argument points, and in lieu utilizes theory-based assumptions of organic city growth that again, do not hold up. If the author reads this, I would love to connect on a professional level to help look at spatial statistics to review these arguments, from the perspective of global cities that don’t lean as heavily on zoning as cities in the US do.

All that being said, while I disagree with a lot philosophically with this book, and while I feel the theory can’t pull its own weight against the blunt force of reality, I don’t think it’s entirely without merit. If I were teaching a class on the introduction to urban planning, I would have my students read this and facilitate discussion around it because I feel it touches on great subjects that are worthy of greater conversation. It’s not something one single PhD candidate can speak down to us from the ivory tower of academia on, but it’s certainly something to round table with the many bright and emerging minds of the profession with.

To the author directly: great work, I hope there comes a day when I meet you in professional circles where we can have a robust conversation about it. It was extremely thought provoking, and even the elements I disagreed on I found myself mulling over for extended periods of time.

To planners considering reading this, or planning students: an extremely worth-while read, but one you should take point by point and not in zero sum. You’ll find this plenty useful as a literary reference when discussing alternate schools of thought around the profession or issue with zoning.

Check it out! This book does a great job of outlining our current zoning system, it's negative effects on our society, and some solutions to move forward.

So if you’re already an urbanist, nothing in this book will shock you. You already know that SF zoning in particular is bad for equity, productivity, the climate, and, although Gray doesn’t address this one, our health. Still, this is a good, easy read that will help you explain succinctly why we need to end SF zoning.

It did change my mind about whether zoning is necessary at all to address externalities from land use. Gray makes a pretty good case that it’s better to directly regulate a nuisance than indirectly try to address it through zoning. Perhaps most compellingly, one person’s nuisance is another’s amenity. For example, I was crushed when my city (SLC) denied a wine bar the ability to operate because the location was deemed too close to residential. Clearly, the way to address the potential noise late night would have been to directly regulate well, the noise, rather than deny the wine bar the ability to operate altogether thus forcing us all to get in our cars and drive to the nearest wine bar.

An excellent foundational read for anyone who wants to understand how zoning works and how it has contributed to the housing crisis. Nolan's firsthand experience as a city planner in NYC is especially engaging and informative! The author discusses the effects of restrictive zoning on reducing housing supply and driving people out of America's most productive areas. He also explains how difficult it is for even the most benevolent city planner to know the highest valued use of each area of a city. I finished the book convinced that the stakes are incredibly high--we must reform zoning if we are to address the ongoing housing crisis that limits opportunity for Americans.

Zoning should be a public good. In a perfect form, it would give room for everyone and offer both access and availability while creating safe walkable communities. Instead, it's a mess. It's as the title says, arbitrary and often needlessly restrictive. It drives up costs artificially in some areas while lowering them in others and mostly we have little control. This book explores cases of zoning gone wrong and propose some ways to make it right.

Clearly a timely book as we seek to solve housing issues in so many communities. Zoning issues simply impact housing options.

Arbitrary Lines highlights the alarming problems with municipal zoning. It's an easy read covering problems and solutions around the world.

Written in a very surface level fashion. The author even said that he'd just research stuff on his own and then decides to make a book out of it. Academic rigor is non existing. If you're just starting and are interested in the pragmatic aspects of zoning in the north American context only then it could perhaps work.