If there is one topic where most architects can find common ground, it is zoning. From the biggest new development to the smallest building modifications, in cities, suburbs and rural communities, zoning shapes and limits what architects and their clients can build. Zoning is one of the most powerful tools that local governments use to express their development policies, pro or con.
When communities of faith seek to create or change their facilities, zoning confronts the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment. And when the religious building is deemed a historic resource, preservation laws join the scrum.
The AIA's Interfaith Design Knowledge Community is hosting an open-ended conversation among design professionals on March 26, 2pm ET, where we invite you to join us to share your experiences at this fraught juncture of hopes, plans, and policies. Help other architects by contributing your experience and insight on this topic. Here is the link to sign up:
https://aia.zoom.us/meeting/register/TsKgO5pHSBuekynM59_Hbw#/registration
Here are some links to some articles at the intersection of land-use and religion, to get you thinking about these challenges. Please bring your own issues to the conversation as well
https://www.buckscountyherald.com/news/lower-makefield-synagogue-wins-zoning-relief-over-supervisors-objections/article_397b6923-c071-46cd-8d5e-f0e25feb3f4e.html
https://tarheelswire.usatoday.com/story/news/local/western-monmouth-county/marlboro/2026/01/09/marlboro-sued-by-developer-of-a-proposed-mosque/88088728007/
https://signalcleveland.org/planned-synagogue-near-cwru-thwarted-neighbors-cite-zoning-concerns-wade-park-university-circle/
https://pluralism.org/not-in-this-neighborhood-zoning-battles
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-05/how-zoning-laws-are-used-to-block-mosque-construction
https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/henderson/hindu-group-aiming-to-build-temple-alleges-discrimination-by-henderson-3050443/
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/rluipa/543504/
https://daltontomich.com/navigating-the-sacred-and-the-secular-rluipa-zoning-trends-in-2026/
https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/11/hospitality-begins-with-zoning-reforms/
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Joshua Zinder AIA
Joshua Zinder Architecture + Design
Princeton NJ
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