Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings

Pundits and economists have recently inferred that zoning explains housing price inflation in fast-growth metro areas. In this article, we use the results of a longitudinal survey of local governments in the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas in 2003 and 2019 to show the limitations of this narrative. Many local governments do use zoning that limits apartment construction; in some metros, more places embraced than abandoned exclusionary zoning. Rather than too little housing, however, these regions had depressed markets long dominated by racially motivated exclusionary zoning. Meanwhile, zoning grew more accommodating to apartments in strong-market metro areas that have concerned the pundits. Our work covers only the 2003–2019 period for about 800 jurisdictions in the 50 largest U.S. metro areas, and it only generally explains some of the changes we observe. Further qualitative research is needed, therefore, to spotlight what it takes to reform land use regulation to address unaffordability and exclusion.

Takeaway for practice

Local land use planners in the United States have ethical and legal obligations to undo the racial segregation designed into zoning from its founding. They also must prepare for continued population growth. Tools and strategies exist to do both of these, and some planners have the commitment and political space to use them. In other places, planners and their professional organizations need to change rules within their own communities and advocate for state legislative reforms so that planning works predictably to unwind unequal and exclusionary settlement patterns within neighborhoods and cities.

中文翻译：

---

走向极端

摘要

问题、研究策略和发现

专家和经济学家最近推断，分区可以解释快速增长的都市区的房价上涨。在本文中，我们使用 2003 年和 2019 年对美国 50 个最大都市区的地方政府进行的纵向调查结果来展示这种叙述的局限性。许多地方政府确实使用分区来限制公寓建设；在一些大都市，更多的地方被接受而不是废弃的排他性分区。然而，这些地区的住房并没有太少，而是长期由出于种族动机的排他性分区主导的市场萧条。与此同时，分区对专家们关注的强劲市场都市区的公寓越来越适应。我们的工作仅涵盖 2003 年至 2019 年期间美国 50 个最大都市区的约 800 个司法管辖区，它只是概括地解释了我们观察到的一些变化。因此，需要进行进一步的定性研究，以突出改革土地使用法规以解决负担不起和排斥的问题。

外卖练习

美国当地的土地利用规划者有道德和法律义务来消除从一开始就被设计成分区的种族隔离。他们还必须为持续的人口增长做好准备。现有的工具和策略可以做到这两点，并且一些规划者有使用它们的承诺和政治空间。在其他地方，规划者及其专业组织需要改变他们自己社区内的规则，并倡导州立法改革，以便规划能够以可预见的方式发挥作用，以消除社区和城市内的不平等和排斥性定居模式。