The term "zoning" recently celebrated its 100-year anniversary in the U.S.'s city planning parlance, and many of our News postings recently have had to do with its fraught, wonky legacy. From racial segregation to housing discrimination to Pokémon Go trespassers, we dip into the debate around zoning, with special guest Mitch McEwen.
Listen to episode 77 of Archinect Sessions, "Twilight Zoning":
Shownotes:
Pokémon Go is forcing us to grapple with 'virtual usage' zoning
Zoning in Los Angeles "doesn’t allow for sensible urban development"
Watch the official trailer for Tomas Koolhaas' upcoming documentary, 'REM' (while Mitch didn't have a chance to watch prior to yesterday's podcast recording, she shared her opinion via email: "OMG THAT REM TRAILER IS THE CHEESIEST THING I HAVE SEEN IN YEARS. I COULDN'T MAKE IT PAST MIN 1:30."
'Pink-zoning' in Detroit
Ep. 13 Archinect Sessions "Elizabeth Timme Gives No F*cks"
Queer Space, After Pulse: Archinect Sessions #69 ft. special guests James Rojas and S. Surface
Mitch's I Can't Breathe = You Can't Dance blog post
Mike Davis' City of Quartz
Recent news related to New York's cabaret laws
The EPA's waterways zoning
Maurice Cox, Detroit's planning director
Mitch's "The Zoning of Things" class at Taubman
Zoning Rules! book
and finally... Le Courvousier
5 Comments
I have a number of thoughts and comments because I have a background in architecture and am currently working for a zoning consulting firm, but I think the biggest point I'd like to make is that it's imperative for architects to be involved in code rewrites and, in essence, get political. The way I always describe what I do to my architecture friends is that instead of playing the game (of architecture), I write the rules to the game. Still, the majority of what we write and implement is based on the will of the people that show up to public events or give comments and input throughout the rewriting process.
I see designers as very similar to lawyers in that those who are the best at the game know which laws/rules they have to follow, which ones can be ignored/bent, and which ones they can actually change. With a zoning rewrite it provides an opportunity to make a lot of positive change happen, both in the building process and what is actually allowed to be built, but it will not happen if the visible will of the city is either highly preservationist or - for lack of a better term - NIMBYist.
for Donna (i think it was this podcast) a movie about an architect father made by his daughter, pretty sure the one on Glenn Small , my father the genius (something like that)
generally speaking Andrewof, in NYC (in recent history), the rule breakers/loophole finders all worked for developers because developers could pay these architects and push them to find advantageous zoning options/mishaps/errors in their favor. so actually the exact opposite of what you suggest. The "best" were the best at getting what no one else could get approved - approved, and this cost money.
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with regard to Environment based on NYC and related to Zoning etc...and what governs what where, it essentially all gets picked up in the Dept. of Building submittal and here is my quick short list off the top of my head with regard to environment as affected by governing laws, rules, etc...very abbreviated with what is applicable to this conversation
Zoning - Quality Housing, Street Tree Planting, Bike storage, parking, etc...
Housing Maintenance Code (HMC) - deals more with immediate environment of tenants, health and sanitary mainly
Multi Dwelling Law (MDL) - dealt with overpopulating of city, similar to HMC but closer to building code and zoning type language. For instance you will find the 30' adequate adjacent space requirement for a habital room here...
Department of Transportation - Street Tree planting and guards, bike lanes
Department of Environmental Protection - site drainage, city connections, etc...
Department of Conservation - wet and freshlands, natural habitats, etc...
Landmarks Preservation Commission - preserving the existing built environment
Con-Ed (Utilities) - incoming service, you may be pulling a gas line for the new building 8 blocks away, which will require ripping up a good portion of NYC sidewalk, streets, etc...
New York Parks and Recreation - more on trees and if you can' locate them on your sidewalk pay for them....
Department of Health (DOH) - a few minimal restrictions on living, but for the most part outside the tenants realm. For architects usually applies to restaurants, daycare, etc...
the MTA if you're close to subways, etc...
then there are Community Boards (sidewalk cafe world or can I have Gym here, is Yoga studio really a gym), HUD, Single Room Occupancies (SRO), Rent stabilized units, etc...not to mention Dept. of Finance (DOF), FDNY Fire Code - and of course Building Code and we won't get into Site Safety Management and B.E.S.T. Squad, Cranes and Derricks, with regard to execution...
On any major job you will need to deal with most of the above. The navigation and priority of issues happens in your submittal to the Building Department as an architect. Everyone else is a specialist.
Imagine a Grasshopper parametric diagram, then imagine trying to make the design work all the way through, standard NYC architect tasks for dealing with the built environment.
It usually starts with Zoning though, and then you look for "environmental hiccups" - i.e. wow! an empty lot, oh but its on a landfill or right next to a freshwater area, etc...or damn, it's a Landmarked building with a SRO tenant - good luck and 5 years!
but Zoning is a good start.
Just and average day for any architect. We didn't even discuss design yet.
I think Maurice Cox said that zoning needs to address the physical matter, that seems like the missing link... there's really no interesting ideas coming from the zoning side, so any architectural value input is probably a bonus. Zoning is just naturally lazy and Platonic. I'd like to see a new zoning strategy that values architecture by treating every building individually, instead of as data. As Mark Twain said, "there's lies, damned lies, and statistics." All Buildings Matter?
The layers of beaurocracy relating to the built world has become so onerous, and yet the position of the architect has deminished when it is most needed. Somehow the remaining "critics" have resorted to grandstanding on various social issues, none of which have to do with the quality of the built world (a social issue that actually improves quality of life and the health of cities). America especially has straight-jacketed its architects, leaving the few remaining condo towers to the charming Europeans.
China is just now shifting to listen more to its own young architects, as they are looking at all of the terrible cities and buildings they've crapped out over the past 10 years (many by European stars). China seems to be finding out that they needed architecture all along, as America is looking away from it. Unfortunately the NYTIMES (Michael Kimmelman?) has gone AWOL with the MoMA and this REM documentary might please the hard-core but is too pompous to be taken seriously by the general public.
While enforcement of it has been problematic because the administrators have allowed the process to be more discretionary than it should be, Louisville's Form District-based development code works reasonably well. Certainly better than the zoning that it replaced.
Instead of isolated usages and intensity of use, Form Districts are based on the type of place: Traditional Neighborhood, Traditional Marketplace, Suburban Marketplace, Downtown, etc. The form of the area establishes the kind of development regulation that will be triggered for proposed projects within the Form District.
What this does is allow for multiple functions in an area, even multi-use buildings to a greater extent, but it establishes the rules for the type of urban environment that should be established/maintained.
A work in progress....
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