Includes bibliographical references and index.

This revised edition includes the 2000 census figures. The chapter on zoning has been extended to cover smart growth & the conclusion has been updated. Introduction: Geography, laws, and landscape: reflections on a cross-country flight -- Part I: Preliminaries: land, geography, law. The meanings and uses of land ; The interaction of geography and law -- Part II: From feudalism to federalism: the social organization of land use. Historic roots of modern land use institutions ; City growth and reform in the nineteenth century ; Building a metropolitan nation: 1900-1945 ; The polarized metropolis: 1945-2000. -- Part III: Discordant voices: property ownership, local government, and the courts. Property rights: the owner as planner ; The tapestry of local governments ; Local zoning and growth management ; Land use and the courts -- Part IV: Beyond localism: the search for broader land use policies. Land programs: regional, state, and federal ; Congress and the metropolitan environment -- List of cases.