Form-Based Codes
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.
NBC DFW
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.
Bloomberg BusinessWeek
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.
City of Covington
The story of the Grand Rapids zoning code update of a decade ago offers perspective on the possibilities of code reform.
Next City
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.
Missoula Current
A call for civility amid the great zoning debate in Austin, Texas.
KUT
The new planning and zoning tools needed to achieve a more sustainable and equitable urban form, according to urban planning consultant Howard Blackson III.
UrbDeZine
CodeNEXT is one of the most ambitious, and controversial, zoning reform projects ongoing in the country, with lessons to offer planners all over the country in code writing, public outreach, and planning outcomes.
CodeNEXT
An unintended consequence of the zoning regulations approved in Denver 2010 zoning code has been the proliferation of "slot homes": like rowhouses but without the street-facing entryways and engagement with the public realm.
The Denver Post
It was a big day for planners and planning in Austin earlier this week, when the city released the 1,100-page first draft of the city's new zoning code—the first major revision of the city's zoning doe since the mid-1980s.
Community Impact Newspaper
Andres Duany takes to the CNU's Public Square to argue for the critical need for codes in a built environment awash in mediocrity.
Public Square
After six years and 242 meetings, Buffalo's Green Code was signed into law Tuesday. The Green Code is the first rewrite of the city's zoning ordinance since 1953, and one of only three citywide form-based codes implemented in North America.
The Buffalo News
The Buffalo Common Council is expected to approve a highly anticipated overhaul of its zoning code. Known commonly as the Buffalo Green Code, city planners tout the new code as deliberately contemporary and progressive.
The Buffalo News
Opticos Design believes by-right zoning and form-based codes can be a win-win for communities.
Logos Opticos: Composing Vibrant Urban Places
The Austin Chamber of Commerce is connecting the dots between land use and transportation—and voicing its support for reform of the city's land use regulations.
Austin Business Journal
As Charlottesville, Virginia considers a new form-based code, the city of Nashville offers explanations and examples of the concept in action.
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Feature
It has been 20 years since the city of Birmingham, Michigan approved the Birmingham 2016 Master Plan. Robert J. Gibbs, one of the planners on a team that included Andrés Duany, describes the decisions and process that contributed to the plan.
It will only take us two-and-a-half minutes to catch you up on the big planning news from the last week of June.
Planetizen
Chattanooga is the latest city to apply the form-based code methodology to a specific area of the city, including downtown and adjacent neighborhoods.
Times Free Press
The city of Cleveland has begun to build a political consensus around the need to update its 1929 zoning code.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer
