‘Form based code’ is a transformative tool in urban planning prioritizing the physical layout of communities over traditional, use-based zoning. This approach fosters visually harmonious urban spaces that encourage walkability and community interaction. By diving into the practicalities and benefits of form based code, this article offers insights into its essential role in modern urban development strategies.
Key Takeaways
- Form-based codes prioritize the physical form over the separation of uses, focusing on elements such as building facades, public spaces, and urban mass to enhance community character and walkability.
- Public participation is essential in developing form-based codes, with engagement methods like charrettes and surveys being used to craft community visions that inform future urban development.
- Form-based codes consist of regulating plans, public and building standards, and definitions, ensuring predictable urban growth and high-quality public realms while promoting sustainable development.
Decoding Form Based Codes
Form-based codes offer a revolutionary approach to urban planning, as they differ from traditional zoning code practices. These codes regulate land development by focusing on physical form rather than abstract parameters, thereby creating the essence of regulating urban growth and development. The beauty of form-based codes lies in their contrast with conventional zoning. Rather than focusing on the separation of land uses, they concentrate on how buildings relate to the street and each other, promoting an integrated urban environment. In this way, form based codes address the need for a more cohesive and visually appealing urban landscape. The Form Based Codes Institute plays a key role in promoting and educating about this innovative approach.
The success of form-based codes is inherently tied to the objectives of a community plan. They aim to realize a shared vision of urbanism based on historical practices. These codes are articulated through a combination of written regulations and visual diagrams, highlighting key elements such as:
- Building facades
- Public spaces
- Urban mass
- Form
The Core Principles of Form Based Codes
The core principles of form-based codes are rooted in the prioritization of physical elements such as buildings, building facades, public realm, and the scale and types of streets and blocks. These elements work together to create high-quality urban spaces. By focusing on the physical form, form-based codes aim to preserve and enhance community character, promote walkability, and encourage compact development patterns through specific building form standards.
Form-based codes also categorize areas into districts that allow a mix of uses and building types. These districts are organized into Centers, Neighborhoods, and Corridors to achieve the intended community structure and function.
How Form Based Codes Produce Predictable Outcomes
Form-based codes produce predictable outcomes by using dimensional standards to create predictable spaces between buildings and define their relationship to streets and public spaces. By prioritizing the size, form, and placement of buildings, these codes generate a predictable look and feel for the built environment.
‘Build-to’ lines in form-based codes lead to more predictable building placement than the variable setbacks allowed by traditional zoning. Form-based codes codify the distinct qualities of a community’s character, supporting development patterns that align with neighborhood values. By focusing less on separating uses and more on development’s contribution to neighborhood aesthetics, form-based codes boost the creation of walkable communities.
Crafting Community Vision with Form Based Codes
Crafting a community vision is crucial for the effectiveness of form-based codes. It directs the future aspirations of the community and provides a foundation for the built form regulation. Developing a community vision involves:
- Actively engaging stakeholders early in the planning process through initiatives like community ‘charrettes’
- Ensuring the form-based code is rooted in collective aspirations
- Making sure the community vision is actionable.
The vision plan is an illustrated document derived from the charrette, specifying the desired development and shaping of the public realm. This plan is then integrated into the comprehensive plan to guide form-based code development.
Through the proper crafting and application of form-based codes, communities can achieve vibrant, walkable neighborhoods that support environmental sustainability and strengthen the community character.
The Role of Public Participation in Shaping Form Based Codes
Public participation plays a crucial role in shaping form-based codes. The development of these codes involves a public stakeholder process that contributes to the creation of the community vision, laying the groundwork for the code. Public participation involves interactive methods such as charrettes, feedback loops, and visual preference surveys to develop a vision plan incorporating public and professional insights.
Community input through participation is essential in determining the desired character of the area. It builds comfort with the new regulations, encouraging the creation of walkable, mixed-use settings. Ongoing engagement with property owners, residents, and professionals ensures the form-based code reflects community needs. This is facilitated by educational efforts to comprehend and wield the complex codes.
The Anatomy of Modern Form Based Code
Modern form-based codes consist of five main elements:
- A regulating plan
- Public standards
- Building standards
- Administration
- Definitions
The project review process in modern form-based codes is clearly defined and streamlined to ensure compliance with form standards. A regulating plan forms the core of the building form standards, acting as a detailed zoning and street map keyed to specific development standards.
Definitions within form-based codes provide a comprehensive glossary of technical terms to ensure consistency in communication and application of the code. The toolbox method allows applicants to choose from a range of options to fulfill building form standards, encouraging diverse design outcomes.
Regulating Plan: The Blueprint for Development
The regulating plan is a map that designates where different building form standards apply, guiding the development intensity and character across the community. Regulating plans are detailed to the level of:
- individual streets
- blocks
- public spaces
- sometimes lots or buildings
This ensures specificity in the implementation of form-based codes by using the appropriate form.
A regulating plan utilizes organizational tools like the urban-to-rural transect system to map out zones based on desired community character and intensity of land use. Every street, block, or parcel is required to comply with the illustrated standards in the form-based code, which can be rolled out incrementally or applied to the entire city at onset, following land development regulation guidelines.
Building Form Standards: Defining the Built Environment
Building form standards define and shape the public realm. They regulate features, configurations, and functions of buildings including:
- Alignment of buildings to the street
- Distances from sidewalks
- Entrances
- Building heights
- Lot frontage coverage
- Window coverage
- Physical elements required on buildings
- General floor usage
Form-based codes include frontage types that control how the front façade of buildings interacts with the streetscape, and they also define building types which govern the entire building’s height, massing, and lot coverage, contributing to a coherent urban form.
Form-based codes often incorporate architectural standards that influence the choice of external architectural materials and building quality. They dictate elements like building articulation and window proportions to reinforce a pedestrian-friendly scale and enhance environmental sustainability.
Public Space Standards: Curating the Community Experience
Form-based codes regulate the high quality public realm by specifying elements such as sidewalks, travel lanes, on-street parking, street trees, and street furniture. Public Space Standards control the physical forms of squares, parks, and the rights-of-way of streets, detailing aspects like travel lane widths, sidewalk widths, and the placement of street trees and lamps.
Landscape standards embedded within public space regulations promote the inclusion of green infrastructure, prescribing types and placement of vegetation crucial for the design of public spaces and ecological functions. By focusing on the physical elements of urban landscapes and the design of public spaces, form-based codes foster environments that are more user-friendly and accessible, thus improving the overall public experience.
Implementing Form Based Codes: Strategies and Challenges
Implementing form-based codes involves strategies such as:
- Mandatory codes: the most common adoption approach for form-based code
- Optional codes: developers might opt for a parallel form-based code when compliance with the existing zoning ordinance is difficult
- Floating-zone codes: allows developers to create the regulating plans while adhering to local government standards
Each strategy has its own challenges and benefits.
An advantage of form-based codes for developers is the streamlining and simplifying of the development process. Hybrid codes that blend form-based and traditional zoning elements can suit unique local conditions by providing both predictability and flexibility.
Overcoming Obstacles in the Transition to Form Based Coding
When transitioning to form-based codes, municipalities often face resistance from stakeholders accustomed to conventional zoning methods. Integrating form-based codes with existing plans and regulations may require significant review and revision of those documents to ensure consistency.
Developing a comprehensive form-based code calls for considerable community engagement, making the process lengthy and potentially costly but resulting in more tailored codes. Form-based codes require continued implementation efforts, including compliance monitoring and collaboration with property owners for targeted projects to produce transformative urban change.
Measuring Success: Evaluating the Impact of Form Based Codes
Form based codes are designed to achieve integrated and focused urban planning that enhances community character. Quantitative analyses of trends in land values, tax revenues, rents, and demographics help in evaluating the effectiveness of form-based code. Qualitative evaluations of form-based code derive from assessing stakeholder interviews and public response to assess changes in the built environment and public realm.
Longitudinal comparisons between areas governed by form-based cods and those regulated by conventional codes indicate the long-term economic contributions of adopting form-based codes.