Lessons Learned Lincoln’s decision is one of the few recorded instances of a local decision based upon so important a question as the basic pattern of the city. The question had been brought from the theoretical into the real; the issue was posed and was answered. The experience in Lincoln demonstrates that zoning is a valuable tool to guide and determine the basic urban pattern of a city. While zoning alone may not be completely satisfactory unless coupled with other planning powers, particularly the power to schedule public improvements; nevertheless, if designed, enacted, and administered in accordance with a Comprehensive Land Use Plan, it may almost guarantee bringing about a pre-designed, basic urban pattern. The power to stop urbanization by requiring large lot areas is a power of zoning. The Lincoln experience demonstrates too the value of a local government’s unified control of a nearby unincorporated area. The impact of the entirely local interrelationships among land use, zoning, traffic, sewer costs, and other considerations was heightened. Control of the basic urban pattern is a fundamental of planning; it is, in fact, the problem that must be solved first. If the areas to be urbanized cannot be predetermined, of what use is it for the planner to worry over such details as where the schools, the parks, or the sewers should go? The experience of Lincoln is valuable as an approach to this basic problem.