There are quite a few factors, I'd encourage checking out the following videos by Not Just Bikes and Climate Towns that cover a broad range of city planning and zoning in the US.

Strong Towns Play List by Not Just Bikes (This heavily covers city planning issues in the US):

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJp5q-R0lZ0_FCUbeVWK6OGLN...

The Suburbs Are Bleeding America Dry by Climate Towns (This covers zoning):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfsCniN7Nsc

How The Auto Industry Carjacked The American Dream (This covers the auto industries impact on US cities.):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOttvpjJvAo

Dutch Cities are Better for the Climate (and my sanity) by Not Just Bikes (Not super relevant to zoning, but it's part 1 of The Suburbs Are Bleeding America Dry so I figured I'd link it.):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO6txCZpbsQ

These are pretty snarky, but fun videos and the authors list their sources. Their video descriptions are worth checking out just to find a ton of reading material on each topic.