Zoning Bigots: A Los Angeles County Land Use War Shows the Dark History and Darker Future of Urban Planning

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"BLACKS," Baltimore's progressive mayor J. Barry Mahool said in 1910, "should be quarantined in isolated slums in order to reduce the incidents of civil disturbance, to prevent the spread of communicable disease into the nearby White neighborhoods, and to protect property values among the White majority." Mahool was not just sowing some of the seeds of the race hatred that bloomed in Charm City throughout the 20th century. He was also laying out the logic of planning and zoning that applies to the present day. The zoning ordinance Mahool stumped for in 1910 became a model for New York City's landmark 1916 Zoning Resolution, which established the international habit of imposing "setback" requirements for tall buildings and limiting height based on lot size.

In a June New York Times op-ed piece, architecture critic Sarah Williams Goldhagen applauded the Big Apple's zoning resolution, which …