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Inclusionary zoning-requiring and encouraging developers to build some affordable housing in market-rate projects-is a growing but deeply contested practice. We evaluate the experience of inclusionary zoning programs in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, including their structure and elements, effectiveness in delivering affordable housing, and effect on housing markets and supply, to address the debate. We find that the programs vary but are not heavily demanding and include cost offsets. Low in-lieu fees, however, can be the weak link. Many of the mandatory programs are effective, if effectiveness is measured by comparing the affordable housing productivity of inclusionary zoning with other affordable housing programs. We found no statistically significant evidence of inclusionary zoning's adverse effect on housing supply in cities with inclusionary mandates. We conclude that critics underestimate the affordable housing productivity of inclusionary zoning, and overestimate its adverse effects on housing supply. Nonetheless, inclusionary zoning is no panacea and needs to be part of a comprehensive housing strategy. Improving access to affordable housing is always a key challenge for local governments. With regular cutbacks in both federal and state support for housing programs, the task keeps becoming more difficult. One local government-based response to the persistent affordable housing shortage in the context of declining funds is the policy of inclusionary zoning. Inclusionary zoning requires and encourages private housing developers to build a specified proportion-often ranging from 10% to 15% -of affordable housing units in market-rate projects. Although some scholars and Direct correcpondence to: Vinit Mukhija,

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Inclusionary zoning (IZ), a controversial planning tool for supplying affordable housing, grew significantly during the 2000s' housing boom in the USA. We review the resultant scholarly literature on IZ. Our key reading is that IZ can include both tradeoffs and practical efforts to address them. There is also a need for additional research. More specifically, we find that IZ programs (i) have many components and vary considerably; (ii) can increase affordable housing production and social integration, but there can be a tradeoff between these goals; and (iii) can have slight adverse market effects, but cost-offsets can help mitigate the outcomes. Finally, we discuss the need for more research, particularly in-depth case studies and make suggestions.

Indexed by SCOPUSThis Series focuses on the entire spectrum of human settlements-from rural to urban, in different regions of the world, with questions such as: What factors cause and guide the process of change in human settlements from rural to urban in character, from hamlets and villages to towns, cities and megacities? Is this process different across time and space, how and why? Is there a future for rural life? Is it possible or not to have industrial development in rural settlements, and how? Why does 'urban shrinkage' occur? Are the rural areas urbanizing or is that urban areas are undergoing 'ruralisation' (in form of underserviced slums)? What are the challenges faced by 'mega urban regions', and how they can be/are being addressed? What drives economic dynamism in human settlements? Is the urban-based economic growth paradigm the only answer to the quest for sustainable development, or is there an urgent need to balance between economic growth on one hand and ecosystem restoration and conservation on the other-for the future sustainability of human habitats? How and what new technology is helping to achieve sustainable development in human settlements? What sort of changes in the current planning, management and governance of human settlements are needed to face the changing environment including the climate and increasing disaster risks? What is the uniqueness of the new 'socio-cultural spaces' that emerge in human settlements, and how they change over time? As rural settlements become urban, are the new 'urban spaces' resulting in the loss of rural life and 'socio-cultural spaces'? What is leading the preservation of rural 'socio-cultural spaces' within the urbanizing world, and how? What is the emerging nature of the rural-urban interface, and what factors influence it? What are the emerging perspectives that help understand the human-environment-culture complex through the study of human settlements and the related ecosystems, and how do they transform our understanding of cultural landscapes and 'waterscapes' in the 21st Century? What else is and/or likely to be new vis-à-vis human settlements-now and in the future? The Series, therefore, welcomes contributions with fresh cognitive perspectives to understand the new and emerging realities of the 21st Century human settlements. Such perspectives will include a multidisciplinary analysis, constituting of the demographic, spatio-economic, environmental, technological, and planning, management and governance lenses.