Land Use Research Guide: Alternative Methods for Land Use Decisionmaking

This dynamic casebook focuses on the role of the lawyer in land use regulatory matters And The factors that influence land development decisions. it emphasizes the current practice of land use law and cutting-edge urban planning and sustainable development legal and policy issues. A wealth of materials, perspectives, and insights in a concise casebook that offers: clear and practice-based explanations of the lawyer’s role in land development a panoply of up-to-date materials from news articles, law reviews, essays, and case profiles that track developments in the field of land use emphasis on recent cases that convey the dynamic content of land use law discussion of the decision-making process in land development And The relative decision-making weight of the law, local government, and politics a thorough examination of third-party rights in land development exploration of ethical issues that arise in land use decisionmaking a logical structure that allows instructors to teach the basic tools of land use regulation and then choose to emphasize specific areas of modern land use law a comprehensive Teacher’s Manual New in the Third Edition: co-author Edward Ziegler — nationally recognized expert on zoning, urban planning law, and sustainable development recent takings cases: Chevron San Remo Kelo State takings legislation, esp., Oregon’s Measure 37 and MacPherson Hathcock Brevard County Continuing developments under Palazzolo Dolan, Lucas, and Penn Central updated coverage of growth management and sustainable development issues “ Smart Growth ” and “ New Urbanism ” Growth, sprawl, green development, peak oil, and global warming issues federal law and land use : The impact of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), The Federal Fair Housing Act , The Americans with Disabilities Act, And The Telecommunications Act of 1996 on local land use decisions use of negotiated development agreements current environmental issues: Rapanos And The jurisdictional wetlands issue under the Clean Water Act Use of land use planning to protect endangered species The debate over the increase in conservation easements The interplay of water supply planning and development approvals Land Use Regulation: Cases and Materials, Third Edition, Is equally well suited for courses in land use and land development as well as planning law classes in the urban planning school curriculum.

Drawing on 30 years of experience reviewing hundreds of government plans, Randal O'Toole shows that, thanks to government planners, American cities are choked with congestion, major American housing markets have become unaf-fordable, and the cost of government infrastructure is spiraling out of control. The book makes the case for repeal of federal planning laws and closure of gov-ernment planning offices. Every American who worries about the insidious growth of the Nanny State must read this book.

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American metropolitan areas today are divided into neighborhoods of privilege and poverty, often along lines of ethnicity and race. City residents traveling through these neighborhoods move from feeling at home to feeling like tourists to feeling so out of place they fear for their security. As Gerald Frug shows, this divided and inhospitable urban landscape is not simply the result of individual choices about where to live or start a business. It is the product of government policies--and, in particular, the policies embedded in legal rules. A Harvard law professor and leading expert on urban affairs, Frug presents the first-ever analysis of how legal rules shape modern cities and outlines a set of alternatives to bring down the walls that now keep city dwellers apart.

Frug begins by describing how American law treats cities as subdivisions of states and shows how this arrangement has encouraged the separation of metropolitan residents into different, sometimes hostile groups. He explains in clear, accessible language the divisive impact of rules about zoning, redevelopment, land use, and the organization of such city services as education and policing. He pays special attention to the underlying role of anxiety about strangers, the widespread desire for good schools, and the pervasive fear of crime. Ultimately, Frug calls for replacing the current legal definition of cities with an alternative based on what he calls "community building"--an alternative that gives cities within the same metropolitan region incentives to forge closer links with each other.

An incisive study of the legal roots of today's urban problems,City Makingis also an optimistic and compelling blueprint for enabling American cities once again to embrace their historic role of helping people reach an accommodation with those who live in the same geographic area, no matter how dissimilar they are.