Early zoning bodies deliberately down-zoned black neighborhoods to industrial status

Evidence

Yale Rabin’s studies of historical zoning decisions have documented numerous instances where stable African American residential communities were “down-zoned” to industrial status by biased decision makers, allowing inappropriate land uses near residents and ruining the social fabric of the neighborhoods. Rabin found that local zoning bodies in the early part of the century routinely zoned as “industrial” many residential African American communities, even as they zoned as “residential” similar white areas. These zoning practices permitted the intrusion of disruptive, incompatible uses and generally undermined the character, quality, and stability of the black residential areas. Such “expulsive zoning,” as Rabin calls it, permanently alters the character of a neighborhood, often depressing property values and causing community blight. The lower property values and the zoning status are then easily invoked as “neutral” criteria upon which siting decisions are made. — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up, 362

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces ‘expulsive zoning’ as a documented historical mechanism.
• XREF: Directly pays off chapter 8’s claim that facially neutral industrial rezoning disproportionately displaced black neighborhoods — this supplies the documented legal history. — connects to: Facially-neutral rezoning displaces black residents into blight and industrial exposure; Fair Housing Act can reach municipal zoning decisions harming communities of color; Facially neutral industrial rezoning disproportionately displaced black neighborhoods — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 349 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Municipal boundary lines perpetuate racial and class segregation #expands (0.85) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1349
• Federal housing programs institutionalized residential segregation through redlining and demolition #expands (0.85) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1196
• Racialized structures distribute resources and access by race #exemplifies (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1828
• Housing discrimination creates a negative feedback loop harming Black property values #complicates (0.75) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 451