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Back to the Future: Is Form-Based Code an Efficacious Tool for Shaping Modern Civic Life? Lolita Buckner Inniss� Abstract . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . .. .. .. .. .. . 1 I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 2 II. The Antecedents of United States Zoning and Urban Planning and the Rise of Form-Based Code................................................................................................................................................ 7 A. The Economic Impetus of City Formation ............................................................................ 8 B. Private Land Use Agreements as Planning Devices .............................................................. 9 C. The Rise of Zoning Codes .................................................................................................... 12 D. Form-based Code as New Urbanist Tool ............................................................................. 20 1. Multiple Strands of Urbanism ........................................................................................... 22 2. Accidental Urbanism ........................................................................................................ 24 3. New Urbanism and the Way We Want to Live ................................................................ 25 III. The Charrette and the Nature of the "Community" in the Process of Developing the Form- BasedCode ................................................................................................................................... 26 A. The Multiple Strands of "Community" and the Charrette as a Tool of an Entrenched Elite27 B. The Form-Based Code Process and the Case of Hurricane Katrina .................................... 33 IV. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 36 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 ' Associate Professor Cleveland Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University . A.B. Princeton University, J.D. University of California, Los Angeles, LLM Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, PhD Candidate, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. I thank Professor Marcilynn Burke of the University of Houston Law School, Professor April Cherry of Cleveland Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University, Professor Audrey McFarlin of the University of Baltimore Law School and Professor Guadalupe Luna of Northern Illinois University Law School for their insightful comments on an earlier draft. I am especially grateful to Professor, Dean and President Emeritus Harry Arthurs of Osgoode Hall Law School, York University for engaging me in the penetrating discussions which first inspired and later helped to shape this paper. I also thank Teirra Everette for her research assistance, and Venita Wiggins for her secretarial help. 1