Suggested reading
Johnston (1971).
zone of dependence An area characterized
by the spatial clustering of residential and
other facilities used by those dependent on
thestateand other bodies (such as charities)
for housing and other support. The import-
ance of such facilities has been increased with
the general trend involving the closure of
many psychiatric and other facilities and
replacing them with ‘community care’, with
many of its facilities located in theinner city,
where large properties are available for conver-
sion and there is less likelihood of resistance
from established residents (cf.nimby). That
spatial concentration encourages their users to
find accommodation nearby, thereby creating
an area where such dependent people, many
suffering in various ways fromsocial exclu-
sion, dominate. As more people congregate
in such zones, more facilities are placed there
to serve them, and eventually a situation akin
to the creation of aghettoemerges. rj
Suggested reading
Dear and Wolch (1993).
zoning A term used to describe the practice
of dividing a city or region into tracts of land,
or zones, for the purposes of land-use plan-
ning. Each zone is assigned a set of permitted
uses (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial
or some subdivision of these, such as single-
family residential), often overlain by regula-
tions on density, height and design.
Regulations are codified in a comprehensive
plan and, consequently, shape future urban
development (Smith, 1983). The character of
zoning regulations varies greatly among coun-
tries, with some framing them at the national
level and others – particularly the USA – hav-
ing a localized and fragmented system. This
local ability to use state power to advance the
general good over individual interests is based
on US Supreme Court decisions – such as the
famousVillage of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co.of
1926 – which established the right of cities to
limit the uses to which private property
owners could put their land.
While zoning is, in one sense, a mundane
bureaucratic practice, its history and present
operation are also tied up with wider social
questions. For example,ethnicdiscrimination
forms the basis for early zoning regulations in
North American cities. Worries among white
elites about the encroachment of ‘undesirable’
ethnic groups such as Chinese populations
led to ordinances that only permitted their
businesses, such as laundries, in specific areas.
Today, exclusionary zoning continues to be
used, often by wealthy municipalities, to
exclude low-income people. Strategies of
exclusion include requirements that houses
be built on large (i.e. expensive) lots and
prohibitions on apartment buildings.
Proponents of contemporary zoning argue
that it provides a transparent framework for
decision-making, since principles of develop-
ment have been codified before decisions on
particular proposals are made; that it provides
predictability for landowners, investors and
developers; and that it offers safeguards for
residents and the environment by controlling
the spread of unwanted or noxious land uses.
Critics point to zoning’s unequal effects and its
potential for discriminatorysocial exclusion;
criticize its restrictions on landowners; point
to its tendency to produce large, environmen-
tally damaging land-use monocultures, such
as single-family suburban subdivisions; and
worry about the potential for zoning decisions –
particularly those regarding requests to change
existing zoning or to seek an exception (a vari-
ance) – to be unfairly influenced by interest
groups.
Contemporary urban policy concerns,
including the mitigation of urbansprawland
the encouragement of compact and mixed-use
developments, relate to zoning. Growth man-
agement and smart growth strategies, such as
growth boundaries (beyond which, the types
of permissible urban land uses are strictly
regulated) are used to maintaincompact cit-
ies(Knaap and Nelson, 1992). Within cities,
long-standing criticisms of single-use zoning
and developers’ interest in mixed use develop-
ments have led to the increased use of zoning
categories that accommodate a variety of land
uses in one location (Knox, 1991).
Finally, it is worth noting that zoning is
frequently the object and stake of urban polit-
ics. Developers and landowners often lobby
for changes in zoning to increase the value of
their holdings (a tract may be more valuable
if its zoning is changed from industrial to
residential, for instance). Environmentalists
or neighbourhood activists often oppose such
changes when they seem to create negative
externalities(McCann, 2002). emSuggested reading
Knaap and Nelson (1992); Smith (1983).zoos Enclosures where animals are held
for a variety of purposes, including display,Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_Z Final Proof page 816 30.3.2009 7:48pmZONE OF DEPENDENCE