Zoning Kills New Walkable Towns

Demand is rising for compact, walkable small‑town downtowns on metro edges, but conventional zoning, subdivision codes, and slow permitting processes make reproducing that form near existing metros nearly impossible. The result is an unmet market for human‑scale places and a political economy where NIMBY rules entrench car‑oriented sprawl instead of enabling higher‑value, lower‑carbon towns. — If true, this reframes housing debates: the obstacle to livable, low‑emissions suburban growth is regulatory design (local codes and permits), not lack of capital or consumer preference, so reforming local land‑use law is a national policy lever.