Archive:000/Zoning: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 16:30, 26 October 2024

Zoning means designating different areas for different purposes. Parts of a city (or town) may be zoned as residential, commercial, or industrial. There are good reasons for doing this, but it can also be done wrong.

Harmful zoning laws

Some suburbs have nothing but houses. People end up having to drive excessively just for basic things like groceries, school, work, or recreation. This makes life unnecessarily expensive, and is harmful to the environment. The zoning laws are to blame. See walkability for how this problem can be fixed.

Zoning laws can also cause housing shortages. In some neighborhoods, it would be best to convert some houses into duplexes (see why)There is an increasing number of couples who don't have kids. Many of these couples would like to live in a half-duplex but can't find one - so they end up living in something too small or something too big/expensive.

The overall lack of housing units also raises the cost of living for everyone, and increases homelessness. Converting houses to duplexes is a simple way to increase the number of housing units., but the zoning laws get in the way.

Zoning worth having

Anti-pollution laws

Homes should be away from industrial processes that pollute the air.

Note: if the pollution consists of environmentally-persistant chemicals that travel far, then ideally the pollution should just be phased out completely.

Historical relevance:

Some suburbs were originally created for this reason, but evolved into car-dependent systems.
Heavy polluters have a long history of establishing themselves in poor neighborhoods, or in some cases, poor countries. This has a racial aspect to it too.

Designated buildings

Noise buildings for people who like to party
Mess buildings for people who don't want to be pressured by landlords to keep clean

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 * Heavy polluters have a long history of establishing themselves in poor neighborhoods, or in some cases, poor countries. This has a [[environmental racism|racial aspect to it too]].
-===Designated buildings - noise===
+===Designated buildings===
+* [[Noise buildings]] for people who like to party
-'''Problem:'''
+* [[Mess buildings]] for people who don't want to be pressured by landlords to keep clean
-In some [[housing]], two kinds of people get pitted against each other:
-# People who like to party and make noise
-# People who have a low tolerance for noise
-The 2nd group feels infringed upon by the 1st. Nighttime noise gets in the way of sleeping. Daytime noise gets in the way of working from home.
-The 1st group feels infringed upon by the 2nd. They need to socialize {{p|''Why not just go to bars and restaurants, you ask?''<br /> Firstly, those are expensive; not everyone can afford to. Secondly, restaurants have much higher human [[labor]] footprint than simple house parties. Third, bars are based around alcohol, and not everyone who likes to party likes to drink.}}, but have to constantly worry about being too loud. The 1st group also includes people who have atypical sleep cycles and need to use the kitchen during the night.
-'''Solution:'''
-Designate some buildings as "unlimited noise, even at night". People who like to have loud house parties could move there. The rest of people would more easily have peace and quiet. There's a whole spectrum of possible noise policies for each building to have.
-"''But aren't there already lots of slums where you can make as much noise as you want?''"
-People don't move into slums for the house parties (generally). People move into slums because other housing is too expensive. Not every poor person likes loud parties. There needs to be affordable, liveable housing for both kinds of people, quiet and loud.
-'''Implementation:'''
-Probably wouldn't be zoning ''laws'' set by the city - but rather a ''policy'' set by whoever owns the building.
-Challenges:
-* People who have been living in the same place for years, wouldn't want their building to suddenly be declared "unlimited noise" or "zero noise" without their consent. The bigger the building, the harder it would be to get consensus from all residents. So it's best to work with cases where this issue wouldn't arise:
-** Student residences: Different parts of the building could be designated as "high noise" and "low noise". Before the school year, students would specify their noise preference, and be placed accordingly.
-** New buildings: When a company builds dozens of buildings, it wouldn't be hard to designate 1 as "high noise" and 1 as "for quieter people". Economically, this would be a type of ''diversified investment''. And it's fairly low risk, because they could always remove the policy later if it doesn't work out.
-** Punk houses: Most are already full of people who like it loud. Officially removing noise restrictions would make life easier for everyone involved {{x|easier for 1. the residents; 2. the police who wouldn't have to knock on their door all the time; 3. the taxpayers, because policing costs money. CAVEAT: This is true as long as the punk house isn't the middle of an otherwise quiet neighborhood. It's generally a good idea for punk houses to be on the same block as other loud things.}}.
-* We don't know exactly what percent of people want which noise policy. A quick guess: probably most people are comfortable with the existing city-wide noise policy, so only a small percent of buildings should be converted to "high noise" or "low noise". Someone would have to do some market research.
-===Designated buildings - dirt and pests===
-'''Problem:'''
-Another two kinds of people who are pitted against each other:
-# People who are messy and don't really care if there are ants or cockroaches.
-# People can't stand these bugs.
-Once again, these groups both tread on each other {{x|intentionally or unintentionally}}. Group 2 is constantly bothered by the bugs caused by group 1. Group 1 is constantly bothered by mandatory [[pest control]] which can interfere with their lives {{p2|(see how)|{{todo}}}}.
-'''Solution:'''
-Have some buildings with management that openly says "we don't care about ants and cockroaches".
-Note: This does '''not''' mean being ok with things that are more hazardous (such as broken plumbing, lead paint, or bedbugs {{p2|(see why they are worse than cockroaches)|{{todo}}}}). Liveable housing should exist for both kinds of people - clean and dirty.
-'''Implementation:'''
-This has the same challenges as the noise idea above, plus a few more. Western culture associates cockroaches with all kinds of bad things - there's no way that today's landlords would ''openly'' be ok with them. However, if we shift our culture enough, it could work.
 ==See also==
 * [[Housing]] - main topic