Updated 2025 Zoning Handbook

After Monumental Reforms, Updated User-friendly Guide Explains New Land Use Rules

Update Includes New Terminology, Maps, and Summaries of City of Yes Initiatives

The publication of the 2025 edition of the New York City Zoning Handbook, a guide designed to make zoning accessible and transparent to a general audience and to demystify how these often-complex rules are applied and can be changed was released today. Released on a periodic basis since 1961, this latest edition reflects all the zoning changes implemented through City of Yes, the biggest update to NYC’s Zoning Resolution in 60 years.

Building on DCP’s broader efforts to reduce jargon and make City rules easier to navigate, this edition of the Zoning Handbook lays out the rules around bulk, use, parking, and more, in clear, accessible terms. The Handbook also helps readers understand how to apply zoning in real life. For example, it shows how to find out what regulations are applicable to any given block or neighborhood and includes a wide range of practical, real-world examples. 

The Handbook also explains new zoning code terminology introduced through City of Yes and other updates, such as:

• Ancillary Dwelling Unit, the term for the small housing unit that homeowners are now allowed to add to their one- or two-family homes
• R11 and R12, new high-density residential zoning districts that require Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and have already been mapped in areas of Midtown South
• Universal Affordability Preference (UAP), which allows roughly 20 percent more housing in medium- and high-density developments, if the additional homes are permanently affordable
• Energy Infrastructure Equipment (EIE), a term that groups renewable energy generation systems, like solar panels, and energy storage systems, like batteries, into a single use under zoning

A collection of helpful charts and maps allows the reader to quickly establish how the city’s core zoning rules apply in different areas. These datasets include information on every residential, commercial, and manufacturing district, where they are mapped in New York City, the uses permitted in each district, and the allowable density/height for new developments.

Since the last edition of this guide was released in 2018, DCP undertook City of Yes – the largest overhaul to New York City’s Zoning Resolution since its inception in 1961 – which is comprised of three separate text amendments: City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality, Economic Opportunity, and Housing Opportunity. Together, they will support a green economy, strengthen small businesses and growing industries, and unlock an estimated 82,000 homes across every neighborhood of New York City.

The 2025 Zoning Handbook is free to download from DCP’s website and serves as an invaluable companion to New York City’s Zoning Resolution, also found online. Hard copies of the Zoning Handbook can be purchased for $25 at the NYC CityStore, in-store and online.

Department of City Planning

The Department of City Planning (DCP) plans for the strategic growth and development of the City through ground-up planning with communities, the development of land use policies and zoning regulations applicable citywide, and its contribution to the preparation of the City’s 10-year Capital Strategy. DCP promotes housing production and affordability, fosters economic development and coordinated investments in infrastructure and services, and supports resilient, sustainable communities across the five boroughs for a more equitable New York City.

In addition, DCP supports the City Planning Commission in its annual review of approximately 450 land use applications for a variety of discretionary approvals. The Department also assists both government agencies and the public by advising on strategic and capital planning and providing policy analysis, technical assistance and data relating to housing, transportation, community facilities, demography, zoning, urban design, waterfront areas and public open space.