Reddit reviews Zoned in the USA: The Origins and Implications of American Land-Use Regulation

First of all, you bless your soul for getting on the commission. You will be able to make a huge difference. Forget about democrat vs republican though--at the local level it really doesn't matter and the identitarian stuff will get in the way of you actually getting things done. Plenty of "liberal" democrats are just as greedy and stupid about land use as anyone else.

• Zoned in the USA is a terrific book that provides a top-notch overview of our system. You might also be interested in the work of William A. Fischel.
  
• Speaking realistically, zoning is not about health/public safety as much as it is about protecting property values. I would keep this in mind, but never mention it.
  
• Many land use decisions can only be made according to specific criteria, so make sure you make decisions that are legally defensible. If the criteria suck, start the conversation about changing them.
  
• To be a good commissioner, empower the planning staff to give you more information, or challenge them to give you or find you more data. Challenge them to explain why setbacks are x feet or z land use 'requires' x number of parking spaces--and don't settle for bullshit answers.
  
• Urban renewal was all about turning small neighborhoods into parking lots. New Urbanism is sort of a commercial movement that might provoke bad reactions in self-styled conservatives. The language you use can reframe the discussion entirely, so I would say talk about evidence-based planning, exclusionary zoning (which is just zoning) and using planning to give people more choice.
  
  In conclusion--there actually isn't really any justification for setbacks in zoning code nor parking minimums. Setbacks might make sense to allow light in New York City, but in a suburban neighborhood they are mostly about conformity and keeping poor people out (and building codes require 5 foot separation or firewall, so if setbacks are needed they can be addressed there). Parking minimums are 100% arbitrary as there is no connection between land use and transportation mode choice (unless the land use is a road, of course). Best of luck to you.

The following comment operates on the assumption that you are interested in American urban planning from an administrative or public policy focus. For real estate development, urban design/architecture, or international issues, look elsewhere.

A solid, all purpose undergraduate major: philosophy. You can teach yourself subjects and even methods, but to learn how to think critically and write about complex subjects in a clear way you need quality, focused instruction and that's the purpose of philosophy. Outside of your general major requirements, take exclusively analytic philosophy courses. Typically there is an analytic philosophy survey course but for other courses identify which professors in your department operate in this tradition (and take teaching seriously) and take whatever courses they offer, regardless of your personal interest in the subject going in. Common subjects include logic, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, epistemology, etc. These courses will discipline your thinking and writing in ways that other majors won't. These skills are absolutely fundamental and lay the groundwork for a successful, highly adaptable career.

Outside of that major, which will fulfill your humanities requirements, you should fill your general requirements with courses like U.S. government (typically fulfilling a social science requirement), microeconomics and macroeconomics (social science, business, and occasionally quantitative), and environmental science (natural science). Take as many economics courses as you can. You can also take a basic geography course focused on cities but in my experience these courses teach you what you can easily learn from disciplined study on your own time. Focus your electives on methods courses, specifically statistics and digital mapping (GIS). You can also easily learn these online but if you have to fill up requirements, stick with these.

"But wait, don't I need to know something about urban planning?" Definitely! But you don't need to use up valuable course time on this subjects unless you have top urban planning scholars teaching undergraduate courses at your school, which probably isn't the case. Feel free to share your program and I'm sure the great community here can point out any top scholars active there. Otherwise, focus on teaching yourself the subject over summer and winter breaks. Read books by esteemed experts/scholars/writers in the field. A few broad essentials, all of which should be available at your public library:

• "Death and Life of Great American Cities" by Jane Jacobs (the essential urban planning text)
  
  
• "Triumph of the City" by Edward Glaeser (urban economics)
  
  
• "Zoned in the USA" by Sonia Hirt (land use planning)
  
  
• "Walkable City" by Jeff Speck (transportation/urban design)
  
  
• "Cities of Tomorrow" by Peter Hall (urban theory/history - don't hesitate to save a ton of money by buying an older edition!)
  
  Other users are welcome to contribute what they see as essentials. The key here is to read about urban planning relentlessly in your free time (important: this includes blogs!) and focus your coursework on skills development. This combination of philosophy/methods coursework and disciplined, independent reading will make you not only an issue expert, which are a dime a dozen, but a productive expert, someone who can approach a completely new problem and produce useful results.
  
  This is the path I have followed and I have been happy with the results. Hope this helps.
  
  Edit: grammar errors, typos, etc. fixes.