Form-Based Codes

What Is the Transect?
In urbanism and planning, the term transect provides a conceptual framework for understanding how the scale of built environments can vary from place to place.

Auburn, Maine Approves New Residential and Commercial Densities Despite Public Outcry
Auburn, Maine offers the latest an example of a small city deciding to increase its capacity for future development in response to housing pressure, even in the face of intense public opposition.

Missing Middle Housing, Form-Based Code Added to the Zoning Menu in Iowa City
The Iowa City Planning Commission approved a rezoning amendment that will allow new missing middle density and implement a form-based code for the city's South District. The city could expand the concepts as it expands the city in the future.

Meet CNU's New Executive Director
The Congress for the New Urbanism has announced the hiring of Rick Cole as the its new executive director, filling a role left vacant by the departure of Lynn Richards earlier this year.

Reconsidering the 'Special Area Plans' of Miami 21
Insider knowledge on one of the most controversial components of a groundbreaking plan.

What Is New Urbanism?
New Urbanism is one of the most influential planning and urban design reform movements of recent decades.

Form-Based Codes Explained as Covington's Neighborhood Development Code Takes Effect
The new form-based code for the Kentucky city of Covington went into effect on October 15. Officials are promoting the simplicity of the new code to the public.

New Form-Based Neighborhood Development Code Approved in Covington, Kentucky
Covington, Kentucky, located just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, has implemented a fundamental shift in the city's planning philosophy by adopting a new form-based Neighborhood Development Code.

What Is a Form-Based Code?
Form-based codes are a variety of development regulation that departs significantly from the land use control approach of most zoning codes in the United States.

What Are Zoning Codes?
Local governments use zoning codes to define what can and cannot be built. While comprehensive plans and other kinds of plans lay out a vision for the future, zoning codes offer the legal tools to implement that vision.

Richmond 300 Plan Update Includes New Cap Park, Form-Based Code
Richmond, Virginia is hoping to make some big changes in time for its tricentennial in 2037, including a new cap park and a new form-based code.

Zoning Code Update Makes the Nightly News in Cleveland
The potential of form-based codes to re-legalize the historic fabric of Cleveland is explained for the nightly news audience.

Work Underway to Update Detroit's Zoning Code
The first deliverable in the process of updating the city of Detroit's zoning ordinance is publically available.

A New Form-Based Zoning Code and the 'Conflicted Soul' of the Suburbs
The new form-based zoning code under consideration in the affluent Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion "has something to teach Philadelphia and other big cities about how to organize density smartly," according to Inga Saffron.

Texas Preempts Local Rules on Building Materials
Local governments didn't want the Texas State Legislature to approved HB 2439, but now the bill is officially law. Some communities worry that they can no longer control the aesthetics of new development.

Explained: The Common Look of the Contemporary Mid-Rise Apartment Building
Last week's urbanism social media landscape was dominated by discussion of an article that digs into the historical and technical origins of the contemporary mid-rise apartment building type.

Form at the Forefront of Zoning Code Rewrite in Covington, Kentucky
The city of Covington is conducting public hearings to gather feedback on at the outset of an 18-month process of rewriting its zoning code.

Form-Based Code Ended Single-Family Zoning a Decade Ago in Grand Rapids
The story of the Grand Rapids zoning code update of a decade ago offers perspective on the possibilities of code reform.

New 'Design Excellence Overlay' Aims to Inspire New Development in Missoula
The city of Missoula professes a strategy of "focusing inward" when it comes to growth and development. A new 'Design Excellence Overlay' will help achieve more goals toward that strategy in the city's downtown.

Austin Reminded to Be Respectful While Debating CodeNEXT
A call for civility amid the great zoning debate in Austin, Texas.
Pagination
City of Grand Prairie
City of Grand Prairie
West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Hercules
City of Fitchburg, WI
City of Culver City
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.