Title: Zoning and Land Use Planning | Urban Regeneration
Headings: Zoning and Land Use Planning
Zoning and Land Use Planning
Evolution of zoning regulations in Ahmedabad, India

Content: Zoning and Land Use Planning | Urban Regeneration
Zoning and Land Use Planning
Zoning is a planning control tool for regulating the built environment and creating functional real estate markets. It does so by dividing land that comprises the statutory area of a local authority into sections, permitting particular land uses on specific sites to shape the layout of towns and cities and enable various types of development. Zoning has a relatively short history as a tool for land-use planning. It determines the location, size, and use of buildings and decides the density of city blocks (City of New York 2015a). Why is zoning necessary? The purpose of zoning is to allow local and national authorities to regulate and control land and property markets to ensure complementary uses. Zoning can also provide the opportunity to stimulate or slow down development in specific areas. The planning and zoning process functions differently around the world and is controlled by different levels of authority. Most commonly, a local authority such as a municipality or a county controls zoning (as in Australia or the United States) whereas in other cases zoning is implemented at the state or national level (as in France or Germany). Sometimes zoning is governed by a combination of the two approaches.