ITHACA, N.Y. – Zoning laws, adopted by thousands of local governments across the country, dictate much of what can be built in the United States. Zoning codes have major ramifications for businesses, housing and quality of life but are very difficult for non-experts to understand.
To address this information gap, Cornell University’s Legal Constructs Lab has announced the launch of a National Zoning Atlas, which will enable people to better understand zoning codes and the regulatory constraints embedded in them.
“We envision the National Zoning Atlas as the Rosetta Stone of zoning: translating complex, technical bureaucratic jargon into easy-to-understand maps and graphics,” said Sara Bronin, the director of the lab and a professor at Cornell’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning. “Once we get a critical mass of jurisdictions incorporated into the National Zoning Atlas, we’ll be able to unlock tremendous, unprecedented secondary research in housing, education, transportation, environmental policy, climate response, economic development, and much more.”
Bronin’s team has established a standard methodology for data collection based on the Connecticut Zoning Atlas. It is also spearheading the New York Zoning Atlas, with initial funding from the Cornell Mui Ho Center for Cities, which launched this April.
Additional teams from Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, and Ohio are creating zoning atlases using National Zoning Atlas methods.
At a minimum, these atlases will enable users to:
- Determine whether each district allows one-, two-, three, or four-or-more-unit housing.
- Know if a housing was subject to a public hearing or has lot-size restrictions.
- Understand various rules on building accessory dwelling units (small spaces that have become increasingly popular as rental properties or apartments for older relatives).
- Understand minimum parking requirements, height caps, lot coverage requirements, and floor-to-area ratios, and more.
When the National Zoning Atlas is complete, it will enable comparisons across jurisdictions, illuminate regional and statewide trends, and strengthen national planning for housing production, transportation infrastructure, and climate response.
Beyond these practical outcomes, the researchers expect a national atlas will democratize zoning information and thus participation in land use decisions, inform zoning reform advocacy, and narrow a wide information gap that currently favors land speculators, institutional investors, and homeowners over socioeconomically disadvantaged groups.
Cornell University has dedicated television and audio studios available for media interviews.
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