If things get too much worse, we'll trend towards accessory dwelling units and urban chickens regardless of whether or not cities formally allow them. It'll be interesting to watch the informal economy grow if and when we start sliding into a new normal.

I wonder if there's a way to use planning to guide the emergence of healthy informal land uses? Once you reach a critical mass of people breaking the law, maybe folks will start to get reluctant to rat out their neighbors for renting out the garage to a college kid. Cities might take a more explicitly selective approach to enforcement, only going after the 'big time' offenders like slumlords. Community activists could help people creatively circumvent land use policies. Or maybe they'll be better off without us.

Now I'm all interested in planning & zoning during the Great Depression. Zoning was still a fairly new idea then, and planning certainly was in its infancy, but I'm sure there were interesting things going on at the community planning level, beyond the macro-level federal intervention in housing we learned about in school...

Site note, from my new favorite blog:
http://www.survivalblog.com/2008/03/letter_re_galloping_bulk_food.html
http://www.survivalblog.com/2008/02/the_home_chicken_flock_for_sel.html
http://www.survivalblog.com/2008/02/letter_re_building_a_kalashnik.html