Lunar Zoning: A Pragmatic Exploration of Zoning Options for the Moon

Thank you to the Open Lunar Foundation for hosting and supporting my paper through their fellowship program! It was thrilling to contribute a city planning perspective to the discussion, and I could not have done it without the generous support of the wonderful people both leading the organization, and those involved in the Open Lunar network. My sincerest thanks!

Through this fellowship, I was able to explore zoning methods and policy within the legal and physical context of the Moon. Engaging with space lawyers and the Outer Space Treaty was eye-opening; the fundamental legal principles of space exploration are distinct from that we typically experience on Earth. I reconciled zoning with this legal context, and produced a comprehensive set of recommendations for deploying zoning and land use policies for the Moon. The lunar built environment will be more efficient and productive with these zoning tools.

This model demonstrates the measurable impact of mixed-use zoning, and especially density, on trip distances. The immediate tendency may be to separate uses for space settlements, but this would incur sizeable trip distance increases. Trip distances dramatically decrease when land uses are allowed to coexist, and when several floors are introduced to lots as shown in the final stage. City planning best practices should followed where possible; only when engineering constraints require it should best practices be abridged.