Urban Land-Use Expert and Author, M. Nolan Gray

What Would It Take To End the California Housing Crisis?

M. Nolan Gray is the author of Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix. His book shows why zoning abolition is a necessary condition for a new renaissance in American cities. The arbitrary lines of zoning maps across the country have come to dictate where Americans may live and work, forcing cities into a pattern of growth that is segregated and sprawling.

The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Reform is in the air, with cities and states across the country critically reevaluating zoning.

And as Los Angeles begins the process of rebuilding the Palisades and Altadena, Mr. Gray also sets out some of the efforts currently underway to reform zoning around the country and charts how land-use regulation might work in the post-zoning American city.

Mr. Gray is a professional city planner and an expert in urban land-use regulation. He is currently completing a Ph.D. in urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles. Gray previously worked on the front lines of zoning as a planner in New York City. He now serves as an Affiliated Scholar with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where he advises state and local policymakers on land-use policy. Gray is a contributor to Market Urbanism and a widely published author, with work appearing in outlets such as The Atlantic, Bloomberg Citylab, and The Guardian. He lives in Los Angeles, California and is originally from Lexington, Kentucky.

Join fellow Lincoln Club Members and friends of the Lincoln Club for what will be an informative and interesting conversation about zoning in American cities.