ABSTRACT
This book originated in a simple desire to understand the system of land use planning in America. Having spent some time studying and writing about the British and Canadian planning systems, it seemed appropriate, after a few years in the United States, to inquire into the nature of American planning. The inclination was spurred by the large gap which seemed to exist between what was written about planning and what happened in practice. I could see little that was common between the standard descriptions of American planning and what was happening in my own area. It did not take any brilliant detective work to establish that it was my area that was typical of reality, not the normative discussions of “planning.” But herein lay the problem: much more so than was the case in either Britain or Canada,1 the system proved to be resistant to description, let alone explanation. Indeed, the term “system” is a misnomer. On reflection, perhaps it could not have been otherwise. There are some 40,000 local governments in the United States which administer zoning, and most of them do so autonomously. They operate within fifty states, each with its own history, culture, and constitution. The social scientist who attempts to impose a scheme of order upon this abundant variety must surely fail.
