Form-based code

Abstract: Minimum parking requirements, which mandate off-street parking and have been a staple of American zoning codes for more than 80 years, are slowly falling out of favor due to incompatibility with sustainable urbanism, equity, and social responsibility. A new zoning ordinance in Buffalo, New York completely removes minimum parking requirements citywide, relieving developers and property owners from the mandate to provide off-street parking. This article performs a comparative analysis of guidelines in the zoning code before and after reform and examines the public engagement process that produced the change in parking control. Strong support for and little opposition to this zoning change suggest less resistance than anticipated to policies that formalize a reduction in off-street parking facilities. Findings suggest that removing minimum parking requirements is easiest where off-street parking requirements are least needed, and that the planning team in Buffalo proposed a bold idea after it detecte...

Abstract: This Essay serves as a critique of the New Urbanism in general and of form-based code in particular as a tool of the New Urbanism It may be true that form-based code offers more flexibility than traditional zoning schemes and thus may offer some respite from acknowledged ills such as social and racial divisions created by exclusionary zoning and other tools, and from the relative inutility of single or limited use districts However, I will argue that these benefits are eclipsed by some of the problems of form-based code Form-based code is frequently hailed as a back to the future approach to both urban and suburban living which will cure numerous ills such as the physical decay, racial segregation, and economic downturns that are endemic to many United States cities and towns, but it may not be an effective means of addressing the decline of civic life This is first because form-based code, in advocating for norms to re-create the city of the past, seeks to implement by design what was essentially a spontaneous and self-generated form of social organization driven largely by economic concerns rather than social or political concerns Next, Urbanism, which is purportedly at the heart of New Urbanist planning schemes such as form-based code, is itself a contested notion, subject to many alternate visions of the city of the past As a result, the implementation of form-based code premised on New Urbanism may lead to an ersatz Urbanism Finally, and perhaps most salient among the critiques I present, form-based code's reliance upon the community to formulate design standards through the charrette process has the potential to further isolate those who are already disadvantaged

Abstract: Zoning is premised upon the segregation of land uses. Rudimentary zoning ordinances originated in New York around 1916 as a means of separating the lower class fabric markets from the upscale retailers of 5 Avenue nearby, and to reduce density. The Standard Enabling Acts of the 1920s granted governments the broad authority to enact zoning ordinances to reduce population densities in cities for the purposes of health, safety, and well being. The United States Supreme Court upheld this authority as constitutional in the landmark case of Euclid v. Ambler Realty (1926). In the roughly eighty years since the Euclid decision, zoning has become the planning profession’s primary tool to regulate land use. While an effective policy response to issues at that time of a rapidly industrializing America, Euclidean zoning has unintentionally shaped the US landscape into a sprawling, auto-dependent society characterized by segregated communities of isolated populations. Euclidean zoning makes it extremely difficult to mix uses. As a result, “traditional” development patterns with high-density housing, nearby commercial, and pedestrian-friendly walkways are virtually impossible to create. Many critics suggest that zoning promulgates sprawl. In short, Euclidean zoning prevents “good” urban design. In recent years, new trends have emerged to address these problems to varying degrees of success. Form-Based Codes are one of the most recent planning innovations. With origins in the New Urbanist school of development, Form-Based Codes elevates physical design in city planning, as opposed to the “use-based” restrictions of Euclidean zoning. This paper examines whether or not Form-Based Codes could be a viable solution to the ills associated with Euclidean zoning. Benefits and drawbacks of both Euclidean zoning and Form-Based Codes are debated, including a case study analysis, as well as a discussion of legal ramifications and future scenarios in land use planning.