tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post4322800555225028752..comments2024-03-27T04:02:47.206-04:00Comments on Old Urbanist: American Zoning as an Expression of NativismCharlie Gardnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07317335121565650040noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post-29734997532022054962016-05-06T17:35:49.071-04:002016-05-06T17:35:49.071-04:00Very fair point, and, as I conceded in the comment...Very fair point, and, as I conceded in the comment above, I may be wrong on this. There are undoubtedly other factors at play, yet none that for me provided an adequate explanation for American zoning's distinctive features. <br /><br />The type of narrowly targeted ordinance you describe in New Orleans has precedents much earlier in history -- for example, the expulsion of the glassblowers of Venice to the island of Murano, as well as medieval English ordinances which regulated the location of particularly odious uses (tanneries, especially). I would place "moral zoning" into that category as well. It is a zoning by "least restrictive means" rather than a broad regulation which seeks to encompass all possible uses and govern all manner of living quarters. Charlie Gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07317335121565650040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post-59150030137635265792016-05-04T13:17:23.088-04:002016-05-04T13:17:23.088-04:00It's always fun to identify the cause of a com...It's always fun to identify the cause of a complex effect--but one is always advised to proceed with great caution and even humility about linking just about anything to a single "cause." Xenophobia, or if you prefer, its opposite, oikophilia are certainly real enough, and both can be said to cause the morphology of place, but there are thousands of variables going into the general rule, and also a million or so gradients of gray that have influence on the outcome. For instance, one of the earliest instances of zoning in the United States was Storyville, the infamous red-light district of New Orleans from the 1890s. It was created as a "safe space" for brothels to operate, and its objective was to remove the brothel next door--which was the reputation of the building housing Commander's Palace restaurant, located in the best neighborhood in town, the Garden District. Xenophobia was decidedly not the cause, and indeed, we may clearly see that the love of order, particularly in ethics, was the impetus for the zoning of that era. Prostitution was a threat to moral order--a moral order which also prized private property. The resolution to the conflict was a kind of negative zoning, hence Storyville.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04736325284945899246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post-43168435397098296702016-02-27T15:15:56.932-05:002016-02-27T15:15:56.932-05:00That's true, but the Southern zoning codes (su...That's true, but the Southern zoning codes (such as the famous one in Louisville, KY) were directly about race and less about uses and single-family zones. Whether Euclidean zoning grew out of that legacy is an interesting question, but I think it can be argued that it had separate origins -- in Berkeley, California, and in New York, both in the early 1910s. Bassett even claimed that there was little "precedent" for NY's zoning code. This second iteration of zoning, the one that was upheld by the courts, directly targeted the means of upward mobility known to be favored by immigrants. Banning all commercial uses from most residential areas of the city was a drastic and unprecedented step, and really only makes sense to me in that context. I may be wrong, but if there's a better explanation out there I've yet to be persuaded. Charlie Gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07317335121565650040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post-74193873994265584532016-02-27T14:07:31.595-05:002016-02-27T14:07:31.595-05:00Seems pretty dead-on to me, and though that the an...Seems pretty dead-on to me, and though that the anti-immigrant fervor is an offshoot of 20th century and earlier racism in general against anyone who wasn't a WASP. It's a pity too because they basically cut off the nose to spite the face.Zephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10977471797021193972noreply@blogger.com