TMP Collection:
Codes: Form-Based |
 Form-Based Codes:
The end of zoning as we know it??
Jeff Schommer & Peter Harmutuck, CharretteCenter
Minneapolis, MN
February, 2005 | |
What are form-based codes? Below are five definitions.
""A form-based code is one that envisions and encourages a certain physical outcome -- the form of the region, community, block, and/or building. The code may or may not include illustrations as part of its technical format.
Form-based codes are a different type from conventional codes that are based primarily on use, process, performance or statistics -- none of which envision or require any particular physical outcome."
-- Placemakers on the SmartCode Listserv
"For the purposes of the Zoning Ordinance, a 'form-based code' means:
'a code based primarily on 'form' – urban form, including the relationship of buildings to each other, to streets and to open spaces – rather than based primarily on land use.'"
-- City of Palo Alto, CA Context Based Design Document.
"A form-based code is a land development regulatory tool that places primary emphasis on the physical form of the built environment with the end goal of producing a specific type of 'place'."
-- Definition from the City of Farmers Branch, TX
"The new codes, (Peter Katz) says, focus less on what's forbidden and more on what's desired--the kind of town or city that people indicate they want."
-- Neal Peirce, ZONING: READY TO BE REFORMED? Washington Post Writers Group.
"'Design is more important than use' embodies the underlying philosophy behind the Form-Based Code (Ferrell & Madden, 2002). Form-Based Codes represent multi-disciplinary codes that connect the design of circulation and public space networks to the design of building form (Altman, et al, 2003). A community’s physical form—namely, its buildings, streets, and public spaces—signifies its most defining characteristic (Dover, 2003) as they shape the public realm (Katz & Ferrell, 2003). Asserting more control over a community’s form could lead to improvements in the way the community functions (Ferrell & Madden, 2002). This increased control includes the fostering of pedestrian-friendly mixed-use developments, and a range of housing types."
-- Jason T. Burdette, Form-Based Codes: A Cure for the Cancer Called Euclidean Zoning?
"Paul Crawford, FAICP, of Crawford Multari & Clark presented the following principles for form-based codes: - Work from a defining spatial pattern, such as the Transect or a system of neighborhoods, districts, and corridors
- De-emphasize land use in favor of building form and typology
- Emphasize mixed uses and mixed use housing
- Focus on the streetscape and the public realm
- Conduct a design-focused public participation process"
-- Megan Lewis, AICP Form-Based Zoning report from 2004 APA conference. |
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