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should not be surprising, because zoning
<br />originated as a means to isolate and segre-
<br />gate land uses. Eighty years after the U.S.
<br />Supreme Court authorized local governments
<br />to zone land, zoning practice is still mired in
<br />solving problems of that era rather than the
<br />current one.
<br />Some land uses must be segregated
<br />because they create excessive noise or trucl<
<br />traffic. However, many other land uses can
<br />coexist and benefit from their proximiry to
<br />each other, yet are forbidden from doing so
<br />because the techniques of zoning by use have
<br />become so entrenched as to seem utterly nat-
<br />ural to citizens and elected officials alil<e.
<br />One I<ey to the harmonious mixing of land
<br />uses is to arrange them on streets and blocics
<br />that function together to create an attractive
<br />"public realm." This realm may be a dignified
<br />parl< or plaza, but it is most often a street of
<br />moderate dimensions and traffic Flow with
<br />sidewallcs and rows of street trees.
<br />In urban settings, fronryards are small or
<br />nonexistent; in less intensive settings, they are
<br />ample and effectively extend the public realm
<br />to include the fronryards on both sides. When
<br />buildings and the public realm are consistently
<br />shaped in this manner, the uses within indi-
<br />vidual structures are far less important than in
<br />conventional suburban configurations.
<br />Form-based codes regulate the I<ey aspects
<br />of urban form, such as the height of build-
<br />ings, how close structures are to the street,
<br />and windows and doors on walls facing
<br />streets and other public spaces. They also
<br />govern the streets themselves so that the
<br />streets and buildings worl<together to create
<br />a desirable public realm—adding value to
<br />every properly in the process.
<br />Form-based codes are sometimes con-
<br />fused with design guidelines, which try to
<br />control how buildings lool<. Design guidelines
<br />emerged from the historic preservation world
<br />Downtown Kendall
<br />THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, Dadeland Mall's
<br />first buildings emerged on I<endall Drive, a
<br />narrow country road just beyond the Miami
<br />metropolis. Fast-forward to today, when two
<br />transit stops are located within wallcing dis-
<br />tance—but who would wallc clear across a
<br />mall parlcing lot in the Florida heat?
<br />Now that the region has sprawled as far
<br />as it can go toward the Everglades, great
<br />sites lilce the 338 acres (136.8 ha) that
<br />include the 1.4 million-square-foot (130,232-
<br />sq-m) Dadeland Mall seem wasted on a
<br />low-slung automobile-dominated pattem.
<br />Redevelopment planningwas instigated
<br />bya local business group, ChamberSouth.
<br />Theresultingplanseemed unrealatthetime.
<br />The parlcinglots and single-use apartment
<br />buildingsweregone;themallremained but
<br />was hidden behind newstructures.
<br />The master plan featured mixed-use
<br />buildings fronting on a networlc of intercon-
<br />nected streets, parlcing garages placed
<br />and are well suited to evaluating how a reno-
<br />vation or new structure would fit into the con-
<br />text of a historic district. Design guidelines are
<br />also used to inFluence the architectural sryle
<br />of buildings in other contexts.
<br />Design guidelines usually require laborious
<br />reviews by public agencies, eliminating the pre-
<br />dictability that is the hallmarl<of a good regula-
<br />tion. Well-written form-based codes are more
<br />objective and easier to implement than design
<br />guidelines and they avoid most of the rypes of
<br />quarrels that erupt over architectural sryle.
<br />Beyond Greenfield Development
<br />Initially, form-based codes were developed as
<br />sets of instructions for developers to use when
<br />developing greenfield sites. Later, they were
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<br />The vision for downtown Kendall.
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<br />mid-blocic to replace the vast expanses of
<br />surFace parlcing, and the transit stops be-
<br />coming the focal points with the greatest
<br />intensity of development.
<br />To implement this vision, a form-based
<br />code was adopted by officials of Miami-
<br />Dade County in 1999 to replace the prior
<br />suburban zoning. Downtown I<endall is now
<br />emerging from the ground, remarlcably lilce
<br />the 1998 master plan.
<br />adapted through the planned unit develop-
<br />ment (PUD) process as a regulatory tool for
<br />local governments to ensure that promised
<br />development patterns were carried out.
<br />Gaithersburg, Maryland, for example, used
<br />this approach to accommodate the develop-
<br />ment of the Kentlands during the late 198os;
<br />there was no other regulatory technique avail-
<br />able for creating new traditional neighbor-
<br />hoods in that city.
<br />A dozen years ago, form-based codes
<br />began being used in redevelopment and revi-
<br />talization scenarios. Coding techniques had to
<br />evolve once the interests of hundreds of dif
<br />ferent properly owners would be afFected.
<br />West Palm Beach, Florida, adopted a form-
<br />based code in 1994 for its entire downtown.
<br />SEPTEMBER 2006 URBAN LAND
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