Confronting Racism in City Planning and Zoning

Zoning: Is the law that mandates development in a community by designating each parcel of land into a "zone" which determines how the land can be used.

Please take a moment to watch a short video, Zoning Matters: How Land Use Policies Shape Our Lives provided by the Urban Institute. The video explains the origin of zoning and how it has furthered patterns of inequality in communities across the United States.

Click anywhere on the image to interact. Press PLAY to watch the video.

To learn more about the Urban Institute please visit their website by clicking the button below:

Comprehensive plans are long-range planning policy documents (effective for 10 to 20 years), which communities use to identify on-going and anticipated issues, needs, shared goals and development options, and outline a general course forward. Louisville's latest Comprehensive Plan, Plan 2040, went into effect on January 1, 2019. It is the community's policy guide for growth and development for the next 20 years.

"In 2040, Louisville Metro is a vibrant and diverse community that is connected, healthy, authentic, sustainable and equitable. Louisville is a city filled with compassionate citizens and memorable places and a place where all people are able to achieve their full potential."

The city of Louisville contracted Harland Bartholomew and Associates of St. Louis, MO in 1929 to complete what would become the 1931 Comprehensive Plan. His firm consulted with Louisville periodically following the conclusion of the 1931 Plan, including a follow-up study titled The Negro Housing Problem in Louisville. In this report, Bartholomew described the economic, social, and physical conditions present in predominately Black areas, specifically those areas close to downtown. Ultimately, the underlying social and economic conditions identified in the report would be ignored and the remedy to "The Problem" would be removal. The report concluded:

“If it were possible to create among the negro masses a real desire for decent accommodations, the slums would automatically eliminate themselves as it would be impossible for the owner of rundown property to obtain tenants unless he made such improvements that would attract them....All of which leads to the conclusion that some form of large-scale slum clearance and rehabilitation is the only real cure.”

The solutions proposed set into motion Louisville's soon to come slum clearance and urban renewal programing that were advanced through the passage of the U.S. Housing Acts. To hasten removal and reduce costs, the report recommended that legislation be obtained for cities to "assist housing companies to acquire land through condemnation", authorize tax exemptions for such improvements, and authorize "excess condemnation." At a time when the ill-health of the city was used to promote orderly growth and single-family housing districts free from intrusion, large-scale and self-contained multi-family housing in unattractive settings was to replace "the slum and 'blighted' districts" constituting a "real menace to proper city development."

The report also highlighted zoning as a tool to prevent the spread of 'blighted' conditions into newer neighborhoods. Bartholomew's work in Louisville concluded with the adoption of the 1958 Comprehensive Plan for Louisville-Jefferson County.

Image: Excerpt from Negro Housing Problem in Louisville, 1932, City Planning and Zoning Commission, Louisville, KY

Bartholomew put forth policies, devised law, and advocated for the removal of 'blighted' areas through slum clearance and urban renewal, and the prevention of its spread through homogenous single-family residential zoning districts. In an address to the National Association of Real Estate Boards in Toronto, Canada in 1930, he covered six influences of 'blight' including inadequate utility services, inaccessibility, lack of homogeneity, obsolescence, decentralization, and character of tenancy. In his discussion on the character of tenancy, it is evident that 'blight,' as well as its prescribed solutions were manifestations of a racist ideology. He stated:

“The worst forms of blighting effect by adverse tenancy are usually those of racial invasions, more particularly those of the colored race."

An archive for Harland Bartholomew & Associates has been curated by Washington University in St. Louis:  "Harland Bartholomew and Associates (HBA) Collection, 1919-1991."  Access to material can be made upon request.

The 1956 Existing and Proposed Urban Renewal Study Areas map provides a spatial reference for targeted urban renewal. An analysis of the urban renewal map against census data from 1940-1970 shows that ‘slum clearance & redevelopment’ was directed at Black populations, while areas designated for ‘rehabilitation or conservation’ and ‘protection’ benefitted white neighborhoods.

Image: Neighborhoods Suggested for Detailed Urban Renewal Study provides a commentary to accompany the map on the Existing and proposed Urban Renewal Study Areas. Click on the images to zoom.

Richard Rothstein's book, The Color of Law, published in 2017 brought the racist origins of city planning and the local, state, and federal governments role in segregating America into the spotlight. When explaining the context of early zoning in St. Louis, Rothstein wrote of Bartholomew:

“According to Bartholomew, an important goal of St. Louis' zoning was to prevent movement into 'finer residential districts' ...by colored people." He noted that without zoning law, such neighborhoods have become run-down, "where values have depreciated, and homes are either vacant or occupied by color people."

Rothstein indicated that Bartholomew preemptively predicted where the Black population might move so that a response in the form of land use restrictions could be drafted to control this movement. Evidence of this intent can be found in the 1958 Comprehensive Plan for Louisville-Jefferson County. It reads:

“One of the most effective measures for concerted and continuous protection of ‘good residential neighborhoods’ is by the formation of neighborhood improvement associations”

Deed restrictions enforced by homeowners' associations became, and remain, an essential tool in the arsenal of exclusivity for the single-family residential districts to privately regulate neighborhood control. Restrictions are used to achieve what zoning controls are not able to openly regulate.

Please take some time to listen to an interview with the author, Richard Rothstein by clicking anywhere on the image to begin interacting. The interview was produced for Fresh Air with Terry Gross on WHYY in Philadelphia. Also available below:

A series of reports from 1954-1957 form the Comprehensive Plan for 1958. The plan was again prepared by Harland Bartholomew and Associates of St. Louis, MO. Deficiencies in administration and subsequent laws and regulations following the adoption of the 1931 Plan are noted as a need to implement the new plan. For instance, the lack of uniformity in regulations between the city and county, make-up of the planning staff and administration of policy, along with approval processes between the Board of Alderman and the Fiscal Court were areas in need of revision.

The 1958 plan continued to focus on the protection of "good residential neighborhoods" from the invasion of "blighting effect" and preservation of value. The report states:

“In order to attack the problem of housing, it is necessary to protect areas that contain standard or good housing, rehabilitate and improve blighted areas and rebuild obsolete areas.”

The Plan also advised Louisville-Jefferson County to engage in urban renewal programs and take advantage of federal assistance. It promoted the condemnation of land for the resale to a private interest in order to eradicate "blight" from the city. The provisions afforded from the federal Housing Acts of ’37, ’49, and ’54 to carry out clearance and renewal were incorporated into the plan document. It is evident that recommendations for clearance and renewal geared toward Black populations, while conservation and protection efforts benefited predominantly white neighborhoods.

In coordination with the effort to eradicate "blight," the 1958 Plan recommended the use of tightly controlled private land subdivisions, deed restrictions, larger single-family lots, and private open space to create exclusionary single-family neighborhoods. The plan references the  Country Club District of Kansas City ; a nod to racial exclusivity through design and subdivision control.

The 1967 Interim Comprehensive Plan was never meant to serve the community long-term or to extensively address social and economic matters. The plan contained general land use goals and objectives. It begins by stating:

“To provide Louisville and Jefferson County with an updated means for guiding development, work is underway on a General Plan to serve until more extensively studied comprehensive planning proposals are completed.”

The final plan would be the 1970 Comprehensive Plan. Remnants of the 1958 plan were still present in recommending:

“Blighting influences should be brought under control and eliminated.”

The Plan further states that:

“Past experience has shown that the failure to develop good subdivision controls has been a primary contributing factor to prevent blight.” 

The 1967 Comprehensive Plan promoted urban renewal as "the most effective and visible implementation tool" to clear and control "blight" and protect "sound areas" of residence. As evidenced in the upcoming 1970 Comprehensive Plan, the 1967 plan does call for a variety of housing types yet still echoes past patterns of separation of uses and tight control of residential areas.

Image: Generalized Existing Land Use map, 1967.

Redlining is defined as the systematic discrimination through the denial of loans or insurance to individuals located in certain geographic areas. Local researcher and urban planner Joshua Poe invigorated local conversations on this subject with the development of an interactive story map titled  Redlining Louisville: Racial Capitalism & Real Estate . This map illustrates the ways that redlining affected - and continues to affect - housing development, disinvestment and lending patterns in Louisville since the publication of the Residential Security or Redlining Map in 1937.

To learn more about redlining and racial covenants, please click anywhere on the image to interact and press PLAY to watch the video. To view the full length video from Twin Cities Public Television (PBS), Redlining and Racial Covenants: Jim Crow of the North, please visit click the button below:

Housing policy is historically tied to land use regulations and comprehensive planning. However, many of these policies worked to restrict access to housing choices among Black families and aided in the segregation of American cities.

In 1937, the Housing Act was created with the purpose of improving the living conditions of low-income residents across the United States. It created the U.S. Housing Authority and expanded on programs created under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) established in 1934. The  FHA  provides insurance to secure mortgages by lenders. The 1936 FHA underwriting manual, seen in the image, called for residential segregation to "strengthen and supplement zoning ordinances." Restriction 'g' explicitly called for a prohibition on occupancy except by the intended race. Deed restrictions continue to supplement zoning regulations to enforce aestheticism and socio-economic controls which disproportionally harm People of Color, and low- to moderate income individuals and families.

The 1954 Housing Act provided further direction to cities wishing to receive federal assistance to clear and remove "slums and blighted areas":

"In order to clear out our slums and blighted areas and to improve our communities we must eliminate the cause of slums and blight...The main elements of such programs should include: first, the prevention of the spread of blight in the good areas of the community through strict enforcement of housing and neighborhood standards and strict occupancy controls; second, rehabilitation of salvable areas turning them into sound healthy neighborhoods by replanning and removing congestion, providing parks and playgrounds, reorganizing streets and traffic, and by facilitating physical rehabilitation of deteriorated structures; third, clearance and redevelopment of non-salvable slums."

Elements of the text above can be found in the guidance of the 1958 Comprehensive Plan. The plan called for a continuation of Urban Renewal programs, preventing the spread of 'blight' and strict neighborhood control.

Slum Clearance and Urban Renewal

Starting in the 1930s, federal policies encouraged urban redevelopment by clearing out the slums and 'blighted' areas of the city. A wide array of factors deemed "detrimental to safety, health, or morals" was included in the 1937 Housing Act in order to define those areas that would be subjected to clearance and renewal. It read:

"The term "slum" means any area where dwellings predominate which, by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangement or design, lack of ventilation, light or sanitation faculties, or any combination of these factors, are detrimental to safety, health, or morals."

The federal government provided funding to demolish entire city blocks that had been categorized as slums. The redevelopment carried out as Urban Renewal would ignore and destroy Black lives, neighborhoods and businesses.

• Ed Hamilton's interview conducted by KY Civil Rights Hall of Fame Oral History Project is available  here  and documents Walnut Street's "Urban Removal," November 4, 2015.
• Joe Hammond's experience with urban renewal was documented by the University of Louisville's Oral History Center, April 16, 1979. Please click  here  and fast-forwarding to the 11-minute mark to listen.

Interact with the webpage by clicking anywhere on the image. The page was published by  Broken Sidewalk  in 2016. As you scroll through the website use the slide on each image to see the before and after impacts of Urban Renewal.

Alternate Image source: University of Louisville Archive. Obtained from WDRB.

In 1954, Andrew and Charlotte Wade moved into their house in the Louisville suburb of Shively with their toddler, Rosemary. They were the only Black family in the neighborhood. They experienced six weeks of harassment from their white neighbors until their home was destroyed by dynamite on June 27, 1954.

Anne and Carl Braden, long-time local civil and labor rights activists, had purchased the home on behalf of the Wade family when no realtor would sell to them. Although several neighbors admitted to burning crosses in the Wade's yard, and one neighbor worked at a factory that used the same dynamite that destroyed the Wade home, no one was arrested. The anticommunist climate of the time placed all focus on the Braden's and five other white allies, who were accused of orchestrating the home purchase and bombing as a communist plot to incite a racial war, for the ultimate purpose of taking over the Kentucky government. Carl Braden was convicted of sedition and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The conviction was later overturned by the U.S Supreme Court under  Pennsylvania v. Nelson (350 US 497 (1956)). 

Click anywhere on the image to interact with the exhibit from the University of Louisville's Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research. You may also open in a new window using the link below:

This report was a collaborative effort of Develop Louisville completed in early 2019. It identifies development policies & practices that exacerbate inequity and place barriers on the attainment of wealth. It also explores topics of exclusionary zoning, economics, accessibility, and contracts in current and historic policy & practice.

This report was completed in February 2019 and identifies symptoms of disparate impacts in Louisville neighborhoods and potential strategies to reshape a housing market that works for the benefit of all Louisvillians. The assessment is examined through three spheres: Health, Diversity and Equity. To read the full report please click on the button below:

Image: Citywide Affordability Gaps. The report states, "The HNA emphasizes the need to address the affordability gap for households earning up to 30% AMI. In total, 31,412 units are necessary to fulfill this need. Addressing this need will have a cascading effect, essentially creating more housing choice and opportunities for those in higher income brackets. The cost to develop 31,412 new units of housing affordable for Louisville’s lowest income households is estimated to be over $3.5 billion. The cost of not addressing the need is not measured in dollars, but in impacts to the livelihoods of our citizens."

The Health Equity Report was designed as a tool for policy makers and residents to better understand how they can create more equitable policies and practices. It examines how our past has influenced our present. It reviews 21 health outcomes such as infant mortality and heart disease, and examines 11 root causes for those outcomes, ranging from food systems to neighborhood development. These health outcomes are arranged in the order of the life course, from infancy through old age, to demonstrate how root causes have different impacts at every life stage and can have cumulative effects over time. To view the full report please visit the Center for Health Equity's Health Equity Report website:

"This plan offers concrete steps for making fair, affordable housing a reality in Louisville. It is firmly grounded in our local history. That history includes persistent structural residential segregation and discrimination that are with us still, but it also includes concerted efforts and creative initiatives by many Louisvillians working together to end housing disparities and reduce poverty."

- Dr. Cate Fosl, Director of the University of Louisville  Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research 

An accessory dwelling unit or ADU is a smaller residential unit provided on a lot with a principal residential structure. These dwellings can take many forms, including detached structures in the rear yard, attached structures to the primary residence, above garages or garage conversions, or upper or lower levels of interior spaces.

Prior regulations required an intensive public hearing process (conditional use permit); thus, suppressing housing choices, opportunities, and the production of fair and affordable housing for all. As Louisville Metro, and our nation, transitions to inclusive and equitable zoning regulations to redress discriminatory land use practices and accommodate ever-changing demographic trends, this amendment takes an initial first step in breaking down inequitable barriers to housing by allowing ADUs as a permitted use with special standards within single-family zoning districts.

“Louisville Metro seeks to engage all citizens in the decision-making process and address the history of inequities and their ongoing impacts, particularly among communities of color.” - Plan 2040

Notification of development, including subdivisions, rezonings, and conditional use permits, has traditionally excluded all that do not own property; exacerbating the disenfranchisement of renters or tenants from the decision making process and disproportionality impacting BIPOC communities and low- to moderate-income individuals and families. Now, all "current residents" are required to receive notice, not just property owners.

To assist in the process of identifying addresses for multi-family developments, including apartments, senior housing, or similar uses, Louisville Metro Government in partnership with LOJIC created an address locator tool.

“Address issue of food deserts. Develop policies and programs that encourage full-service grocery stores to locate in identified food deserts and support innovative efforts to provide access to fresh food, such as: urban agriculture, community gardens and farmers’ markets. Encourage communities to use vacant lots for gardens to enhance access to fresh foods.” - Plan 2040

The amendment formalized urban agriculture in the Land Development Code by defining it, eliminating complex market and community garden regulations, and adopting a set of standards for urban agriculture that will allow the land use in all zoning districts, eliminate any parking standards, and not require unnecessary and costly buffering and screening. Standards for farmers markets were also adopted. Urban agriculture is defined as follows:

Agricultural activities that are not otherwise permitted and regulated by KRS. This may include any size tract of land, in any form district.

Local Articles on the topic:

•  Advocates Work To Eliminate Barriers To Urban Farming In Louisville 
•  Louisville Loosens Restrictions To Cultivate More Community Gardens 

Embed Content: The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Urban Agriculture Tool Kit

Phase I: Setbacks/Yards & Floor Area Ratio

"Increase flexibility of design and parking requirements to promote adaptive reuse and infill development.” - Plan 2040

These small changes increase flexibility for alternative housing types by reducing the area required for front yards and eliminating barriers to home additions. The removal of floor area ratio (FAR) eliminates an outdated bulk standard that prevents additional living space or accessory dwellings from being allocated on a property that meets all other design standards of the LDC.

Image: Historic Planning Advisory Service (PAS) report from the American Planning Association.  Illustrating the Zoning Ordinance, Report No. 165, 1962 . To explain how to illustrate the text of the zoning ordinance, the report reads, "One technique is to include a diagram immediately preceding the text for a particular zoning district. This illustration would show how the major requirements and provisions in that section apply to a typical structure and would emphasize the particular, distinctive characteristics of the zone. Figure 18 [image included] illustrates an approach in which a three dimensional effect is created. The Portland, Oregon, ordinance has a summary diagram preceding the text provisions of each zoning district section."