Single Family Zoning
We see it, we despise it: single family zoning. Essentially, it's government regulation (most often at the municipal level) that restricts landowners from building anything but single-family detached housing on their land. One would not be allowed to build townhouses, multi-plexes, etc. without getting the zoning changed (difficult). Think of the suburbs. That's single family zoning, homie.
Now, why do we hate it? Well, for starters, it began as an element of segregation, and like many of the things from that time, it needs to change. Second, it limits the amount of housing that can be build in a specific area, which, during a time of ever-increasing housing (buying/renting) costs... isn't good.
As Eric Jaffe put it in his blog post Is it time to end single-family zoning?: "In brief, there’s compelling evidence that single-family zoning has damaged the environment by encouraging suburban sprawl and car reliance, worsened affordability by restricting housing supply, and undermined inclusion by keeping lower-income households out of high-opportunity neighborhoods." (The whole post is well worth the read, highly recommend.)
Wikipedia also does this topic immense justice, and we recommend taking a brief read through their page (and the associated references) to grasp the concept - and its downsides - as much as possible.
There are also some fantastic YouTube (urban planning nerds like us appreciate them) videos on this topic:
- CityBeautiful: The Case Against Single-Family Zoning
- Not Just Bikes: The Houses that Can't be Built in America - The Missing Middle
- Institute for Humane Studies: How Zoning Laws Are Holding Back America's Cities
- Vox: How the US made affordable housing illegal
- Climate Town: The Suburbs Are Bleeding America Dry | Climate Town (feat. Not Just Bikes)