ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at regulations and attitudes that shape the fabric of the city at a time when population is growing steadily and Malthusians worry about when new arrivals will overwhelm the very qualities that attracted them here in the first place. The Zoning Code that began as a simple way to encourage compatible development, and protect residents from unhealthy industrial neighbors, has become a hugely complex set of rules and regulations that differ from block to block. Forensic examination of the healthy city has turned up some useful empirical data: things that work, as well as some that do not; the latter merit a thorough overhaul. The opportunity for planners is to cultivate a rich environmental design ecosystem nourished by the confluence of disciplines among collaborating design professionals. Designing an urban space is not very different from designing a room or a stage set. On the stage, lighting is often the most crucial variable.
