The “evil of shutting off of light and air”
A building boom in Manhattan in the early 20th century led to the creation of the city’s first zoning laws restricting development. These laws were intended to protect residential neighborhoods from the encroachment of factories and to delineate design principles that would protect the “light and air” from being blocked by massive skyscrapers.
New York’s First Zoning Resolution, Which Brought Order to a Chaotic Building Boom, Turns 100
By David W. Dunlap
The New York Times
July 25, 2016