Zoning is a term used in urban planning for a system of land-use regulation in various parts of the world, including North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another. Scope Theoretically, the primary purpose of zoning is to segregate uses that are thought to be incompatible; in practice, zoning is used as a permitting system to prevent new developm… (More on Zoning)