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Form -based code
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A form -based code (FBC) is a means of regulating development to achieve a specific urban form.
Form -based codes create a predictable public realm by controlling physical form primarily, with a lesser
focus on land use, through city or county regulations.
Form -based codes are a new response to the modern challenges of urban sprawl, deterioration of historic
neighborhoods, and neglect of pedestrian safety in new development. Tradition has declined as a guide
to development patterns, and the widespread adoption by cities of single -use zoning regulations has
discouraged compact, walkable urbanism. Form -based codes are a tool to address these deficiencies, and
to provide local governments the regulatory means to achieve development objectives with greater
certainty.
Contents
* 1 Scope
* 2 History
■ 2.1 Emergence of modern form -based codes
* 2.2 Recent developments
■ 3 Components of form -based codes
w 3.1 Building Form Standards
■ 3.2 Public Space Standards
4 Identifying Form -Based Codes
5 Implementation
* 6 See also
■ 7 External links
Scope
Form -based codes address the relationship between building facades and the public realm, the form and
mass of buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and types of streets and blocks. The
regulations and standards in form -based codes, presented in both diagrams and words, are keyed to a
regulating plan that designates the appropriate form and scale (and therefore, character) of development
rather than only distinctions in land -use types. This is in contrast to conventional zoning's focus on the
micromanagement and segregation of land uses, and the control of development intensity through
abstract and uncoordinated parameters (e.g., floor area ratios, dwelling units per acre, setbacks, parking
ratios) to the neglect of an integrated built form. Not to be confused with design guidelines or general
statements of policy, form -based codes are regulatory, not advisory.
Form -based codes are drafted to achieve a community vision based on time -tested forms of urbanism.
Ultimately, a form -based code is a tool; the quality of development outcomes is dependent on the quality
and objectives of the community plan that a code implements.
History
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Form -based codes are part of a long history of shaping the built landscape for public benefit. Such
efforts go back to the urban designs of Hippodamus of ancient Greece, the planning of cities in ancient
China, and Roman town planning. The Laws of the Indies, promulgated by the Spanish Crown starting
in the 16th century, established some basic urban form requirements for colonial towns in the Americas.
William Penn when planning Philadelphia in the 17th century did not shy from precise urban form
requirements when he said, "Let every house be in a line, or upon a line, as much as may be."
During the 18th century, Baroque urban design commonly brought buildings to the fronts of their lots
with common facade treatments. Baron Haussmann, appointed by Napoleon III to oversee the
redevelopment of Paris in the 19th century, stipulated precise ratios of building heights to street widths;
disposition and sizes of windows and doors on building facades; consistent planting of street trees; and
standardization of material colors to bring unity and harmony to the public environment.
Emergence of modern form -based codes
But regulating urban form is a challenge in modern democracies. Design guidelines adopted by
municipalities, without legal enforceability, often invite capricious observance, thus failing to produce
the comprehensive changes required to produce satisfying public places. When public planning
exercises fail to produce predictable results, citizens often rebel against any development. In addition,
from early in the twentieth century to the present, attempts at regulating the built landscape have usually
been done for reasons that neglect community form, that are more concerned with the uses of property
and impacts of scale than the form that development takes. And a planning profession that in recent
decades has focused on policy, neglecting design, encouraged an abstract intellectual response to
problems that are largely physical in nature.
The development of modern form -based codes was started by architects, urban designers, and physical
planners frustrated by the ineffectiveness of past criticisms of sprawl development and the failure of
critics to propose realistic alternatives. These professionals, used to thinking physically about
community problems, began the search for systematic physical solutions in the 1970s. Architect
Christopher Alexander published A Pattern Language in 1977, a compendium of physical rules for
designing humane buildings and places. Ian McHarg developed systematic mapping tools to encourage
deliberate development patterns sensitive to local environmental conditions. Traditional Neighborhood
Development ordinances were drafted beginning in the early 1990s as sets of development regulations to
promote traditional neighborhood forms in new development projects. TND ordinances were typically
adopted as an optional regulatory procedure that developers could request in place of conventional
zoning. But their design regulations were not mapped to parcels or streets in advance, so lacked
predictability of outcomes; TND ordinances proved to be an instructive effort, but showed few results.
Meanwhile, the accelerating scale of worldwide urban growth and the rapid expansion of the extent of
cities heightened the need for regulatory tools better equipped to deal with such growth. The first serious
attempt at creating a modern form -based code was done in 1982 to guide the development of the Florida
resort town of Seaside by the husband and wife design team of Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-
Zyberk. Realizing that designing an entire town would be an overwhelming task and would in the end
lack the visual serendipity that only comes from myriad creative minds at work, they created a design
code that established basic physical standards mapped to parcels, and then invited developers and
architects to put their own distinctive stamp on their projects—but operating within those standards. The
Seaside Code proved very successful; the resulting development of the town of Seaside is widely
recognized as one of the most important and appealing planning efforts of the post -World War II era.
Duany/Plater-Zyberk's codes and the work of subsequent form -based code practitioners are not top-
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down mandates from imperial designers as in the baroque era or the wishful thinking of design
guidelines that lack enforceability, but are instead legal regulations adopted by units of local
government. As regulations they possess police power; violators of the regulations can be cited, and
their invocation or retraction must go through a legislative process. As such, the community plays a
more forceful role in shaping its physical future.
Recent developments
Although the Seaside coe was
CID
mmissioned by a private ::.i, ti�,,-rt,
developer, most current codes aret��'' r `°
commissioned by counties and {
municipalities. Since Seaside, the
scale of form -based coding projects
has grown. Form -based coding can
be applied at many scales, from a
S
rm
two -block main street to a county- � ;
wide region. An early form -based C
code was adopted for downtown
West Palm Beach in 1995. A
significant code for a major urban M
arterial, the Columbia Pike in
Arlington County, Virginia, was f
adopted in 2003 (Ferrell Madden
Associates). A regional FBC was Form -based codes produce more consistent and predictable patterns
adopted in 2006 by St. Lucie of development in relationship to the public realm than typically
achieved through conventional zoning regulations. J
County, Florida (Spikowski --
Associates, Dover -Kohl Partners).
Duany/Plater-Zyberk has drafted a model FBC that is also a transect -based code that can be calibrated
for local needs—the SMARTCODE. Its first attempted customization was done for Vicksburg,
Mississippi in 2001 (Mouzon & Greene). The lessons learned there led to the first California adoption of
a citywide form -based code for the City of Sonoma in March 2003 (Crawford Multari & Clark
Associates, Moule & Polyzoides), followed in 2004 by the first SmartCode adopted in the U.S., for
central Petaluma, California (Fisher and Hall Urban Design, Crawford Multari & Clark Associates).
SmartCodes are now being calibrated for Miami, Florida and Hurricane Katrina ravaged communities in
Mississippi and Louisiana, along with cities as diverse as Taos, NM, Michigan City, IN, Jamestown, RI,
Lawrence, KS, New Castle, DE, and Bran, Romania. Planetary climate change that must be mitigated by
changes in the human environment will no doubt be an inducement to form -based and transect -based
coding in the future.
Because of the growing number of consultants advertising themselves as capable of writing FBCs but
with little or no training, in 2004 the non-profit Form -Based Codes Institute was organized to establish
standards and teach best practices. In addition, SmartCode workshops are regularly scheduled by
P1aceMakers.com, SmartCodePro.com, and SmartCodeLocal.com.
Components of form -based codes
Form -based codes commonly include the following elements:
a Regulating Plan. A plan or map of the regulated area designating the locations where different
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building form standards apply, based on clear community intentions regarding the physical
character of the area being coded.
. Public Space -Standards. Specifications for the elements within the public realm (e.g., sidewalks,
travel lanes, on -street parking, street trees, street furniture, etc.).
■ Building Form Standards. Regulations controlling the configuration, features, and functions of
buildings that define and shape the public realm.
■ Administration. A clearly defined application and project review process.
• Definitions. A glossary to ensure the precise use of technical terms.
Illustrative Plan
FORM -BASED CODE
Regulating Plan
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Building Form Standards Public SI
At a minimum, a form -based code, written to enable or preserve a specific urban form, consists of building form an(
keyed to a regulating plan. An urban design is the intention or goal, the form -based code is the regulatory to
Form -based codes also sometimes include:
■ Architectural Standards. Regulations controlling external architectural materials and quality.
• Landscaping Standards. Regulations controlling landscape design and plant materials on private
property as they impact public spaces (e.g. regulations about parking lot screening and shading,
maintaining sight lines, insuring unobstructed pedestrian movements, etc.).
■ Signage Standards. Regulations controlling allowable signage sizes, materials, illumination, and
placement.
■ Environmental Resource Standards. Regulations controlling issues such as storm water drainage
and infiltration, development on slopes, tree protection, solar access, etc.
• Annotation. Text and illustrations explaining the intentions of specific code provisions.
Building Form Standards
The types of buildings that make for - -- — — —
a lively main street are different
from the types of buildings that make for a quiet residential street. Building Form Standards are sets of
enforceable design regulations for controlling building types and how they impact the public realm.
These Standards are mapped to streets on a Regulating Plan. Building Form Standards can control such
things as: the alignment of buildings to the street; how close buildings are to sidewalks; the visibility and
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Fprm-based code - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
accessibility of building entrances;
minimum and maximum buildings
heights; minimum or maximum lot
frontage coverage; minimum and
maximum amounts of window
coverage on facades; physical
elements required on buildings (e.g.
stoops, porches, types of permitted
balconies); and the general usage of
floors (e.g. office, residential, or
retail). These regulations are less
concerned with architectural styles
and designs than in how buildings
shape public spaces. If a local
government also wishes to regulate
the quality of architecture --for
example to preserve the historic
appearance of a neighborhood --then
Architectural Standards should be
drafted in addition to Building Form
Standards.
Public Space Standards
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Building attributes that can be regulated in a Building Form Standard,
in this case for a hypothetical street in a neighborhood center
Public Space Standards control the physical form of squares, parks, the
public right-of-way of streets, and other public spaces. Public spaces
are typically under the control of public works, parks, and highway
departments. Streets, being the most common public spaces in a
community, are the most frequently regulated. Public Space Standards
for streets are typically described with dimensioned cross-sections
and/or plan views showing travel lane widths, sidewalk widths, street
tree and street lamp placement, locations of transit lanes, and the
placement of architecture. Plan view diagrams may also be included
showing spacing of street trees and lamps, and the radii of the curves
of street corners.
Identifying Form -Based Codes
A well -crafted form -based code is the most effective form of
development regulation for shaping pedestrian -scaled, mixed use and
fine-grained urbanism. How does one determine if a development
regulation is a form -based code and a well -crafted one? Form -based
codes generally receive affirmative answers to all of the following questions:
An example of a Public Space
Standard for public streets
from the SmartCode 9.0
■ Is the code's focus primarily on regulating urban form and less on land use?
■ Is the code regulatory rather than advisory?
■ Does the code emphasize standards and parameters for form with predictable physical outcomes
(build -to lines, frontage type requirements, etc.) rather than relying on numerical parameters
(floor -area ratios, density, etc.) whose outcomes are impossible to predict?
. Does the code require private buildings to shape public space through the use of building form
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standards with specific requirements for building placement?
w Does the code promote and/or conserve an interconnected street network and pedestrian -scaled
blocks?
a Are regulations and standards keyed to specific locations on a regulating plan?
a Are the diagrams in the code unambiguous, clearly labeled, and accurate in their presentation of
spatial configurations?
Implementation
How are form -based codes incorporated into a local government's development regulations? There are
three basic ways:
Mandatory codes. This is the most common adoption approach. It has the most regulatory "teeth"—
compliance is required. But it is the most ambitious of the approaches, making the new code a seamless
part of, or a complete replacement for, the existing zoning ordinance. The form -based code can be
adopted as a new zoning district or as an overlay district.
Unique to California and a few other states with appropriate enabling legislation, form -based codes can
be contained within a planning document called a "specific plan," which can completely override the
zoning ordinance for a given geographic area. Since it stands apart from the zoning ordinance, it can be
more creative in its format, giving the coder greater freedom in designing for user-friendliness through
page layout, diagrams, and illustrations. Also, the urban design plan and the implementing regulations
are bundled together, greatly improving user comprehension. But since the specific plan is not securely
integrated within the existing zoning ordinance, it may be more politically vulnerable to retraction.
Example adopted codes:
Winter Springs Town Center District Code, Winter Springs, Florida
Farmers Branch Station Area Form -Based Code, Farmers Branch, Texas
Central Petaluma Specific Plan and SmartCode, Petaluma, California
Optional (parallel) codes. An optional or parallel form -based code serves as an alternative to, but
doesn't replace, a present zoning ordinance. Compliance is voluntary. The developer has the choice of
complying with the form -based code or the zoning ordinance, but it must be one or the other. This
approach makes sense when compliance with the zoning ordinance is so difficult and time consuming
that most development is stymied. Thus a developer has the option of following a form -based code that
will streamline and simplify his development process. But, for a local government to maintain two
different sets of development regulations for one area is added work which can be significant if the area
is extensive. Also depending on the area being regulated, if some developers are choosing the form -
based code and others nearby are not, the possibilities for integrated place -making can be compromised.
Example codes:
Columbia Pike Form -Based Code, Arlington County, Virginia
Pike Road SmartCode, Pike Road, Alabama
Pass Christian SmartCode, Pass Christian, Mississippi
Floating -zone codes. Floating zones are most often written to facilitate master -planned suburban
communities and are called PUDs (planned unit developments). However, floating -zone codes are now
being written as form -based codes to facilitate urban development. A floating -zone form -based code
does not contain a regulating plan but includes instructions and standards for developers to follow when
they prepare a regulating plan for their property (e.g. maximum block dimensions, street types, building
types, open space accessibility, sidewalk widths.) This distinguishes floating -zone codes from the other
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two approaches–developers rather than the local government create the regulating plans and the urban
designs that they facilitate, but the local government sets the standards. Floating -zone codes allow local
governments to establish urban form standards for development without incurring the expense of
developing urban design and regulating plans. Developers are given the freedom, within clear
parameters, to prepare regulating plans for their property that are likely to meet government approval. A
developer submits his or her regulating plan for approval through the rezoning process. Upon rezoning,
the floating zone replaces the prior zoning for that property and the regulating plan becomes binding.
Example codes:
Miami/Dade County TND District, Dade County, Florida
Towns, Villages, Countryside Land Development Regulations, St. Lucie County, Florida
Flowood SmartCode, Flowood, Mississippi
Montgomery SmartCode, Montgomery, Alabama (not to be confused with the mandatory SmartCode for
downtown)
Initially a local government may wish to adopt a form -based code for its entire jurisdiction following
one approach, but find this too ambitious with short-term resource and political limitations requiring a
more focused effort. Instead it may wish to follow one approach for a smaller area, and then phase in
other areas using the same or different approaches as needed. Or a floating -zone code could be adopted
for large areas awaiting the public resources coming later that would allow the local government to draft
its own regulating plans. Whatever approach is followed—or combination of approaches—simplicity
and consistency helps at the permit desk where the code is implemented.
See also
■ Zoning in the United States
■ Development control in the United Kingdom
• Statutory planning
External links
■ Form -Based Codes Institute(http://www.formbasedcodes.org/)
■ The Seaside Institute (http://www.theseasideinstitute.org/)
■ Dover, Kohl & Partners (http://www.doverkohl.com/)
• P1aceMakers.com (http://www.placemakers.com/)
■ SmartCode Central (http://www.smartcodecentral.com/)
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Definition of a Form -Based Code (FBCI)
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Definition of a Form -Based Code
Draft Date: January 29, 2008
A method of regulating development to achieve a specific urban form. Form -based codes create a
predictable public realm primarily by controlling physical form, with a lesser focus on land use, through
city or county regulations.
Form -based codes address the relationship between building facades and the public realm, the form and
mass of buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and types of streets and blocks. The regulations
and standards in Form -based codes, presented in both diagrams and words, are keyed to a regulating plan
that designates the appropriate form and scale (and therefore, character) of development rather than only
distinctions in land -use types. This is in contrast to conventional zoning's focus on the micromanagement
and segregation of land uses, and the control of development intensity through abstract and uncoordinated
parameters (e.g., FAR, dwellings per acre, setbacks, parking ratios, traffic LOS) to the neglect of an
integrated built form. Not to be confused with design guidelines or general statements of policy, Form -
based codes are regulatory, not advisory.
Form -based codes are drafted to achieve a community vision based on time -tested forms of urbanism.
Ultimately, a Form -based code is a tool; the quality of development outcomes is dependent on the quality
and objectives of the community plan that a code implements.
Form -based codes commonly include the following elements:
• Regulating Plan. A plan or map of the regulated area designating the locations where different
building form standards apply, based on clear community intentions regarding the physical character
of the area being code.
• Public Space Standards. Specifications for the elements within the public realm (e.g., sidewalks,
travel lanes, on -street parking, street trees, street furniture, etc.).
• Building Form Standards. Regulations controlling the configuration, features, and functions of
buildings that define and shape the public realm.
• Administration. A clearly defined application and project review process.
• Definitions. A glossary to ensure the precise use of technical terms.
Form -based codes also sometimes include:
• Architectural Standards. Regulations controlling external architectural materials and quality.
• Landscaping Standards. Regulations controlling landscape design and plant materials on private
property as they impact public spaces (e.g. regulations about parking lot screening and shading,
maintaining sight lines, insuring unobstructed pedestrian movements, etc.).
• Signage Standards. Regulations controlling allowable signage sizes, materials, illumination, and
placement.
• Environmental Resource Standards. Regulations controlling issues such as storm water drainage and
infiltration, development on slopes, tree protection, solar access, etc.
• Annotation. Text and illustrations explaining the intentions of specific code provisions.
Related Resources:
• Checklist for Identifying and Evaluating Form -Based Codes
• Eight Advantages to Form -Based Codes
• More...
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