Taxonomy of urban mixed land use planning

In classical urban planning, land use segregation and zoning regulations have been practiced by the city planners as the mainstream guiding principles in shaping cities. In spite of many advantages, such land use segregation & zoning regulations, over the last few decades, have been critiqued by scholars for many adverse conditions. Such as 1) isolation and lack of vitality, 2) longer home-work distance and travel cost, 3) unsuitable environment for small investments, 4) higher travel cost for facilities, amenities and thereby increased expenditure, 5) safety issues, etc. As a solution, mixed land use (MLU) has been advocated as a strategy to avoid such limitations and adverse conditions. In addition, MLU offers other advantages like 1) housing variety and density, 2) creation of an economic blend of compatible land uses, 3) compact development, 4) stronger neighborhood character, 5) walkability, 6) job generation, etc. However, MLU always may not produce such advantages. For example, mixing multiple land uses beyond a suitable proportion can also bring unwanted conditions like traffic congestion, encroachments, unintended very high-density housing, parking spill out, non-residential uses operating on residential premises paying less tax, chaos and noise, stressed infrastructure, etc. Nevertheless, MLU has been advocated largely in all international urban forums and scholarly discourses. Still, operationalizing the concept of MLU in an appropriate balance has not been streamlined due to various confusions and research gaps. The current paper addresses those confusions through a thorough discussion from literature and clarifies the concept of MLU with clear classifications and differentiation as a significant basis for further research and practice.