Abstract In this article, we draw attention to the geographies of “land use,” which to date have been underexamined and undertheorized within urban geographical literature. To do so, we review insights from a growing set of literature in geography, urban planning, law, and socio‐legal studies, among others, to outline how urban space is shaped through the relationships between land use, planning, property, and law. We first look at the relationships between land‐use planning and power relations in place. We go on to focus on the law, and the ways in which it structures and controls land use, property, and social activities in the city. We conclude by reviewing how law and legal concepts can serve as instruments of resistance and a source of alternate futures in urban spaces. In sum, we argue that a deeper interrogation of land use , and its relationships to planning, property, and law, can lead to a better understanding of how liberal‐democratic cities operate, and offer tools for resisting opaque and legalistic land‐use planning programs.