When most people think of real estate , they think of bricks and mortar. They picture homes, shopping centers, or office towers. What they rarely notice is the invisible hand guiding how—and where—those buildings come to be. That hand is zoning .

Zoning ordinances are the rulebook of a city. They determine whether land is residential or commercial, how tall a building can rise, how close it can sit to the street, and even how many parking spaces must be provided. It may sound dry, but these quiet regulations have more influence over our daily lives than almost anything else city hall does.

Think about your favorite downtown street. Chances are it has buildings that hug the sidewalk, storefronts that invite you in, and maybe apartments above retail. That’s no accident. At some point,

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