Mixed-use zoning is making a comeback, and it really fosters walkability. You can have a dense area that isn't that easy to get to things because its zoned too rigidly.
Zoning originally came about for a few reasons. One was that industrial pollution was a serious issue and people wanted that away from other types of land use. The other was the rise of the car. Zoning has allowed places to require minimum lot sizes or state that mixed-use isn't allowed. One of the reasons we have so few walkable communities in the U.S. (even small ones like old towns used to be) is that zoning doesn't permit it. Because of this, areas that are walkable and are mixed-use are extremely expensive to live in.
I feel like zoning away industrial pollution is a bit of a band-aid. "That factory is generating a lot of pollution. Let's ... put it somewhere we won't see it."
Zoning a required minimum number of parking spots is indeed a terrible thing. Back where I went to college, that was a major headache for every business around campus. A bar was blocked from expanding because it couldn't acquire enough parking spots (and you want people driving to a bar why?), and the public library was required to put in a three story car park across the street when it renovated, demolishing a half a block of shops and apartments. This despite being a block and a half from a seven story car park which was never fully filled.
New York, on the other hand, doesn't seem to give a flying fig about parking. You drive, it's your own problem.
Actually, current zoning laws in NYC require [most] new developments to have some minimum number of parking spaces available (usually underground) based on the size of the building. Just look at any of the new condos that have gone up in the last 10 years. Found this recent article while looking for a reference:
Zoning originally came about for a few reasons. One was that industrial pollution was a serious issue and people wanted that away from other types of land use. The other was the rise of the car. Zoning has allowed places to require minimum lot sizes or state that mixed-use isn't allowed. One of the reasons we have so few walkable communities in the U.S. (even small ones like old towns used to be) is that zoning doesn't permit it. Because of this, areas that are walkable and are mixed-use are extremely expensive to live in.