Zoning: a proposal for change

Abstract

This report examines the development of contemporary town planning theory over the last 200 years from Robert Owen's industrial villages to Milton Keynes with particular emphasis on land use zoning and its development from a simple premise that separated industry from housing to the sophisticated planning tool that it has become today. Planning legislation in New Zealand is studied and the application of zoning laws in two cities: Wellington and Christchurch. The case against our present zoning laws is presented, followed by a proposal for relaxing the existing regulations together with a discussion of the impediments to such a change.