Charlie Gardner writes about what can be found in, and more importantly what is excluded from, one of the most progressive code revisions to be adopted by a major American city.
Gardner writes that Nashville has been quick to embrace new trends in planning and development, for better or for worse, in its history. And he points to several significant elements of the new plan for its downtown that hope to right past planning wrongs.
Chief among these progressive steps are the elimination of parking minimums, a de facto abolition of Euclidean zoning, and the eradication of most setback requirements. According to Gardner, "these are remarkable achievements in contemporary planning and zoning, representing a reversal of almost 100 years of planning policy and a liberation of basic property rights long held hostage by the city."
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