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This book provides a comprehensive and readable account of the American system of controlling the private use of land -- the public control of private development. It explains the general, social, legal, and political context and the historical origin of these controls. It provides a technical description of the main methods (zoning and subdivision control) and identifies recent innovations in technique. The objectives of control and its effectiveness are considered, and some parallels with British experience are explored. In a final chapter, "Retrospect and Prospect -- 1969," written especially for this new edition, developments of the past ten years and prospects for the future are discussed.The book is intended to provide an introduction to the subject for all those whose work or studies require some acquaintenace with land-use controls -- students of planning, law, social administration, and politics; professional planners, zoning lawyers; elected representatives. It is also intended to provide the foreign visitor or observer with a clear account of American methods of land-use control and a general introduction to the American planning scene.There is no other book that deals with this subject in a similar way.
There are legal textbooks that record the case law in excessive detail, and there are planning textbooks that deal with the techniques in an uncritical way, unrelated to the historical, politcal, and administrative context.
