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This chapter examines the history and evolution of land use regulation in the United States. The economic effect and influence on neighborhood composition is considered. The work of political theorists Antonio Gramsci and Michel Foucault is utilized to analyze the practice of zoning in the United States. An overview of the Standard Zoning Enabling Act, which sets the foundation for zoning within the United States, is presented. Michel Foucault’s notion of “disciplinary power” and Gramsci’s theory of “environmental hegemony” are highlighted to elucidate how land use regulations have operated to enhance the social and economic status of some populations, while limiting the opportunities of others. The potential for changing land use polices is also discussed.

This chapter analyzes the role of new local planning frameworks in the development of urban megaprojects (UMPs). It argues that the way projects are integrated with existing planning controls and statutory procedures influences how its costs and benefits are distributed. Drawing on the case studies of the Special Hudson Yards District in New York City, the “Zone d’Amenagement Concerte Clichy-Batignolles” in Paris and the Operacao Urbana Agua Branca in Sao Paulo, it compares how the legislative reforms and strategic plans enacted in each city impacted development programs, implementation process, and public benefits delivered by each project. This is a comparative case study analysis using quantitative and qualitative data collected through planning documents, press articles, interviews, and field research on the planning process of the three case studies, their administrative and institutional frameworks focused combined with quantitative analysis of the development proposals and outcomes of each project. The research shows how the articulation between the new plans and the underlying zoning districts as well as willingness by the city to commit public funds to finance the required upfront investments influence the ability of cities to extract public benefits from urban megaprojects and improve integration with surrounding neighborhoods, transport infrastructure, and regional policy. Based on a succinct review of the related literature the chapter illustrates the evolving role of public agencies and land-use regulation in the development of UMPs, illustrates the material expression of strategic planning on legislative reform and policy statements, provides a comparative analysis of contrasting legal systems, and suggests policy formulations that can improve the “public return” generated by UMPs.

Participatory geographic information systems (PGIS) have been increasingly employed for decision-making in planning, environmental conservation, zoning, and development. This research explores the use of PGIS and its significant role for environmental zoning plans (EZP). PGIS methodology intends to incorporate local knowledge, increase data access, multiple realities, and bottom-up decision-making in EZP in a very sensitive water body in Southern Sri Lanka.

This research presents the lessons learned from a case study of Madu Ganga estuary in Galle District, Sri Lanka. Madu Ganga is an extraordinarily stretch of water body (an estuary) with abundant natural resources and beauty. In recent years, Madu Ganga has faced serious environmental threats due to increase in human activities leading to overexploitation of natural resources. To protect and manage this valuable environment, a team of geographers from the Center for Environmental Studies, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka was invited by the Coastal Resource Management Project to undertake the zoning study. Various participatory methods including PGIS applications were adopted and affected communities were also involved in developing a zoning plan. The study illustrates that the use of PGIS approach is effective in incorporating local people into environmental planning, and it also supports affected people to be actively involved in development activities in their own communities.

This chapter addresses the complex problem of racial, ethnic, and economic segregation in the United States. How can pedagogy address this fundamental problem, by engaging students directly in efforts to dismantle segregationist housing policies? I begin by reviewing the history of public policies that have generated hypersegregation in American cities. I then describe a set of learning activities designed to help graduate students: (1) understand the ways in which we continue to segregate ourselves via public policy, (2) participate in the spheres in which such policy decisions are made, and (3) critically examine the role of our own institution in racialized neighborhood change. The learning activities presented include critical examination of exclusionary zoning policy; participation in public events, including protests, government hearings, and community meetings; and investigation into the complex causes of gentrification in a neighborhood adjacent to our University. Examples from student products are included. This chapter presents a series of novel learning activities designed to help students understand the real connections between public policy, structural racism, and housing opportunity. I present an approach to teaching that empowers students to participate actively in civic life.

Parking policy in the United States is dominated by zoning codes with minimum parking requirements stipulated for a variety of uses. Some cities have realized that this approach has not yielded the desired policy outcomes; instead, it may be causing unintended consequences including added auto-travel, dispersed development, congestion, and air pollution that cities now wish to mitigate.

This paper identifies historic and contemporary trends in United States’ parking policy as cities gain additional insight and embrace new priorities.

Three emerging trends in the U.S. context are identified: Rethinking zoning codes that require parking with development; introducing pricing to better manage curb resources thereby cutting down curb-space competition; and looking for urban design solutions to parking access, location and on-site placement which can lead to more efficient mode use decisions.

The chapter provides an analysis of cases showing how cities are now seeking alternative approaches.

After many years of policy intervention focused on the alleviation of parking shortages by requiring additional off-street parking, cities are now seeking alternative approaches.

Cities can learn from each other’s experiences. New paradigms in parking policy will lead to different social outcomes: they could increase the cost of auto use (disadvantaging the poor) but decrease auto dependence (favoring the poor).

The originality of this chapter is in the juxtaposition and analysis of trends that have, heretofore, had little exposure.

With its capabilities for business mapping, geospatial analysis and its contribution to decision making, geographic information system (GIS) seems to be a valuable tool especially applicable in the discipline tourism geography. The capabilities of geospatial analysis for tourist consumer research at destinations will be exemplified by the case of German low-cost carrier passengers (LCCP) on Majorca island, Spain, one of the worlds' leading coastal mass holiday destinations with an annual visitor demand of around 10 million arrivals. The survey puts together primary and secondary research to profile LCCP groups located in different tourism spaces around the island. The approach as well as results shall motivate stakeholders in the tourism industry, especially destinations, to enlarge their marketing and management issues towards geospatial analysis.

The chapter aims to discuss the social housing history and urban renewal experiences in Turkey while pointing out similarities to and variegations from the urban policy trends in the global north in the postwar era. To carry out these discussions, the chapter focuses on the Karapınar Project in Eskişehir.

The chapter is built on an anthropological case study and a self-funded video documentary research that includes insights from local inhabitants, projects’ authorities, urban experts, and planners in order to show contesting claims and views about the renewal, new housing conditions, and economic consequences.

The Karapınar Renewal Project is a Mass Housing Administration (TOKİ) project which claimed to be a ‘welfare oriented’, ‘renewal on-site’, ‘social housing project’ aiming to turn gecekondu – squatter settlements – into a healthy neighborhood. Yet, these claims fail to meet their promises and only appear to mask the actual rent-seeking motivations of the project.

The chapter shows that large economic profits of the authorities create a significant contrast with economic burdens and dispossessions of the poor residents. The locals’ fears about the payments and concerns about changing living conditions are in sharp contradiction with the welfare claims of the state institutions.

The Karapınar Project uses the concepts of ‘social housing’ and ‘welfare state’ which are normally associated with policies of social democratic ideology. Yet, when looking into the reality, it becomes clear that the Karapınar Project shifted the meanings of these concepts and utilized them to create a space for legitimacy.