the legislative method of controlling land use by regulating such considerations as the type of buildings (e.g., commercial or residential) that may be erected and the population density. Applied primarily to urban areas, it is accomplished by dividing land area into zoning districts, each having specific conditions under which land and buildings may be legally developed and used. In combination with other city-planning techniques, zoning is a major instrument for gaining greater physical order in cities.

The earliest form of zoning was inspired by architectural and urban-design controls introduced in European cities toward the end of the 19th century. In accordance with long-established municipal powers, German and Swedish cities applied zoning regulations about 1875 to new land being urbanized around the older city cores as a way of controlling the heights and concentrations of buildings and avoiding problems of congestion. Much of the orderliness of German and Swedish cities and the consistent quality of building line and height is due to the early establishment of detailed zoning regulations and their widespread application at the time of major building activity growing out of the Industrial Revolution.

Zoning in the United States, in contrast, has been more concerned with the social and economic function for which land is used rather than with architectural and site-planning criteria. The earliest U.S. zoning ordinances—around the turn of the 20th century—were motivated by the need for regulating the location of commercial and industrial activities.