Jack Robbins says that after 100 years of the same debates and issues, maybe it is time to consider rebuilding our zoning code.

“The fierce debates sparked by the pressures of a rapidly urbanizing city led, in 1916, to the creation of a bold, new, previously untested law, known today as the New York City Zoning Resolution. This revolutionary set of regulations inspired zoning laws across the country and around the world. Why, then, 100 years later, are we still having the same debates? Is zoning doing what we want it to do? And what is it we want it to do? We have lived with zoning for so long, treat it as such a given in the process of shaping our city that we have lost touch with its purpose and its origins. Is zoning a leftover artifact of a different era, or does it still reflect today’s values? Is the house of zoning we started building over 100 years ago still the structure we want to live in today?”

Read more: House of Zoning: After 100 years, Should We Rebuild It?, FXFOWLE Podium 1

Photo courtesy of: The United States Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons