The Political Culture of Planning: American Land Use Planning in Comparative Perspective

The Political Culture of Planning is written for two quite distinct readerships. The main body of the book synthesizes a mass of information to provide an overview of a complex and amorphous field. This material is designed to meet the needs of students who require a succinct account of the American system of land use planning. These readers can ignore the notes. For those who are embarking upon a much wider and deeper study of land use planning in the US the notes are crucial: they provide the guideposts to an immensely rich literature. The first four parts of the text present the main issues of land use planning in the US. Initially it assesses the US zoning system. The introductory chapter discusses the meaning of zoning (and its difference from planning), the primacy of local governments, the constitutional framework and the role of the courts. Next, the text provides the historical background to zoning and an outline of the classic Euclid case, and then goes on to discuss the objectives and nature of zoning and the use which local governments have made of its inherently inflexible character.