Cincinnati Embraces the Form-Based Code

With an estimated 700 Cincinnatians participating in workshops last week to help design its new form-based code, the city's Department of Planning and Buildings is hoping they've found the right tool to revive a city that has half the population it did 60 years ago, and a 17 percent housing vacancy rate.

Following the lead of planners in Nashville, whose work with form-based codes has served as a precedent for leaders in Cincinnati, the city's effort will kick off in four of the city's neighborhoods: College Hill, Walnut Hills, Westwood and Madisonville, utilizing a $2.4 million Community Challenge Planning Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Learn more about the project at the city's new Plan Build Live website.