Like yes, zoning is used for a whole bunch of bullshit, but the second you get anywhere even remotely urban this is extremely common. This sounds like it’s from someone who grew up in suburbia hell and really just wants to move into a city but doesn’t know that.
A big part of the problem is in North America, they won’t build that type of development anymore. New developments are almost exclusively either residential SFH or commercial strip malls. Prevously a building was flexible enough to go from a grocer with apartments above it then to a financial office then to full residential with relatively minor renovations in between. Now walmart has rules saying another big box store cant buy their abandoned big box store to prevent competition.
I live in Jersey, and mixed use is very big just about everywhere (not including South Jersey, I don’t know anything about South Jersey). The idea of a walkable downtown made a very big comeback in the last decade or so.
A lot of those buildings were put in before the more strict zoning laws. In a lot of places, the good buildings are grandfathered in for mixed use or even just for existing. Besides, there’s plenty of places that would benefit greatly from little micro downtowns built this way, but it’s illegal to do so. Zoning that makes efficient housing and commercial development impossible is the devil.
Like yes, zoning is used for a whole bunch of bullshit, but the second you get anywhere even remotely urban this is extremely common. This sounds like it’s from someone who grew up in suburbia hell and really just wants to move into a city but doesn’t know that.
A big part of the problem is in North America, they won’t build that type of development anymore. New developments are almost exclusively either residential SFH or commercial strip malls. Prevously a building was flexible enough to go from a grocer with apartments above it then to a financial office then to full residential with relatively minor renovations in between. Now walmart has rules saying another big box store cant buy their abandoned big box store to prevent competition.
I live in Jersey, and mixed use is very big just about everywhere (not including South Jersey, I don’t know anything about South Jersey). The idea of a walkable downtown made a very big comeback in the last decade or so.
A lot of those buildings were put in before the more strict zoning laws. In a lot of places, the good buildings are grandfathered in for mixed use or even just for existing. Besides, there’s plenty of places that would benefit greatly from little micro downtowns built this way, but it’s illegal to do so. Zoning that makes efficient housing and commercial development impossible is the devil.