Form-Based Codes

The story of the Grand Rapids zoning code update of a decade ago offers perspective on the possibilities of code reform.

January 1, 2019 - 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.

October 18, 2018 - Missoula Current

A call for civility amid the great zoning debate in Austin, Texas.

June 11, 2018 - 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.

June 8, 2018 - 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.

February 8, 2018 - 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.

January 30, 2018 - 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.

February 3, 2017 - 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.

January 26, 2017 - 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.

January 4, 2017 - 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.

December 27, 2016 - The Buffalo News

Opticos Design believes by-right zoning and form-based codes can be a win-win for communities.

November 30, 2016 - 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.

October 14, 2016 - 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.

September 26, 2016 - Charlottesville Tomorrow

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.

July 13, 2016 - Robert J. Gibbs

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.

July 1, 2016 - 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.

June 30, 2016 - Times Free Press

The city of Cleveland has begun to build a political consensus around the need to update its 1929 zoning code.

March 10, 2016 - The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Misconceptions about New Urbanism persist.

March 7, 2016 - Michael Lewyn

The city of Atlanta is undertaking a wide-ranging review of its current zoning code in the hopes of implementing form-based codes for more of the city.

February 8, 2016 - Creative Loafing Atlanta

Having just wrapped up a great CNU in Dallas, April 29 through May 2, a collection of urbanists share some of the ideas that resonated the most.

May 6, 2015 - PlaceShakers