A Better Way to Zone identifies ten principles that can help reform current zoning to produce better cities, including:

(1) More Flexible Uses
(2) The Mixed Use Middle
(3) Attainable Housing
(4) Mature Area Standards
(5) Living With Non-Conformities
(6) Dynamic Development Standards
(7) Negotiated Large Developments
(8) Depoliticized Final Approvals
(9) Better Webbing
(10) Scheduled Maintenance

Finally, the book suggests five ways to get started with zoning reform towards A Better Way to Zone.

While zoning discussions often focus on how cities should look, A Better Way to Zone does not follow that trend. Although New Urbanist tools, form-based zoning, and the SmartCode are making headlines both within and outside the planning profession, each has limitations as a general approach to big city zoning, and each is sometimes mis-applied to situations where it do not work well. In contrast, A Better Way to Zone provides a vision of future zoning that is not tied to a particular picture of how cities should look, but is instead grounded in how cities should work.