Legal Foundations Of Land Use Planning

Urban planning is a community process, the purpose of which is to develop and implement a plan for achieving community goals and objectives. In this process, planners employ a variety of disciplines, including law. However, the law is only an instrument of urban planning, and cannot solve all urban problems or meet all social needs. The ability of the legal system to implement the planning process is limited by philosophical, historical, and constitutional constraints. Jurisprudence is concerned with societal values and relationships that limit the effectiveness of the law as an instrument of urban planning. When law is definite and certain, freedom is enhanced within the boundaries created by the law. This doctrine of Anglo-American law imposes an obligation on courts to be guided by prior judicial decision or precedents and, when deciding similar matters, to follow the previously established rule unless the case is distinguishable due to facts or changed social, political, or economic conditions The author focuses on seven specific areas of law in relation to land use planning: law as an instrument of planning, zoning, exclusionary zoning and managed growth, subdivision regulations, site plan review and planned unit development, eminent domain, and the transfer of development rights. Jerome G. Rose cites more than one hundred court cases, and the indexed list serves as a useful encyclopedia of land use law. This is a valuable sourcebook for all legal experts, urban planners, and government officials.

Urban planning is a community process, the purpose of which is to develop and implement a plan for achieving community goals and objectives. In this process, planners employ a variety of disciplines, including law. However, the law is only an instrument of urban planning, and cannot solve all urban problems or meet all social needs. The ability of the legal system to implement the planning process is limited by philosophical, historical, and constitutional constraints. Jurisprudence is concerned with societal values and relationships that limit the effectiveness of the law as an instrument of urban planning. When law is definite and certain, freedom is enhanced within the boundaries created by the law. This doctrine of Anglo-American law imposes an obligation on courts to be guided by prior judicial decision or precedents and, when deciding similar matters, to follow the previously established rule unless the case is distinguishable due to facts or changed social, political, or economic conditions The author focuses on seven specific areas of law in relation to land use planning: law as an instrument of planning, zoning, exclusionary zoning and managed growth, subdivision regulations, site plan review and planned unit development, eminent domain, and the transfer of development rights. Jerome G. Rose cites more than one hundred court cases, and the indexed list serves as a useful encyclopedia of land use law. This is a valuable sourcebook for all legal experts, urban planners, and government officials.

"First paperback printing 2013, by Transaction Publishers."

This Hornbook introduces the fundamentals of land use planning and control law. Subjects covered include the planning process, zoning, development permission, subdivision control law, and building and housing codes. Discusses constitutional limitations and the environmental aspects of land use controls. Explores aesthetic regulation, historic preservation, and agricultural land protection.

Throughout the world, city planners and governments grapple with the challenges of urban planning using remarkably similar land use regimes. Yet the realisation is increasing that real urban problems – crime, decay, drug abuse, inequality, depression and alienation – are not easily solved by the classic devices of a strategic plan and a zoning map. Planning regimes are therefore in constant flux, as planners and governments adjust and experiment to address these problems, often with little awareness as to what they are trying to accomplish. In Comparative Urban Land Use Planning: Best Practice, Leslie A. Stein digs deeper, drawing on examples from around the world to discover the best practice responses to the critical issues of planning and urban social problems. Although every city has its own cultural and political milieu, patterns of change and levels of success can be discerned and universal lessons learned. By comparing different urban planning approaches and considering their underlying ideologies and assumptions, he proposes a more insightful approach to the role of land use planning. This book is both scholarly and emotional, expressing a great love of cities and calling for a more clear-eyed approach for their care.