Saving the World through Zoning: The Sustainable Development Code, Regeneration, and Beyond

It is primarily the responsibility of local governments to protect the citizens and biosphere of their communities.  To regulate the development of the built environment and land use, cities integrate sustainability into their plans and implement them through zoning and local building codes.  Increasingly, local governments are adopting ambitious sustainable development codes that encourage and facilitate regeneration of the environment and protect the local biosphere and community.  This article addresses such issues as the obstacles to the sustainable development of communities, the creation of incentives, filling regulatory gaps, and the challenges to sustainable development codes becoming mainstream.