Form-Based Codes Institute at Smart Growth America

February, 2017

FBCI Symposium Will Explore How Cities Can Be Redeveloped to Improve Public Health

FBCI Symposium Will Explore How Cities Can Be Redeveloped to Improve Public Health

Most of us know that a healthy lifestyle involves eating high-quality, nutritious food, getting regular exercise and plenty of rest, reducing stress and living in surroundings that lift the spirits. Unfortunately, typical American lifestyles often make it logistically — and in some cases, financially — difficult to maintain such a lifestyle. Many of us spend […]

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Practical Idealism: FBCs as the Framework for Building Sustainable Places

Practical Idealism: FBCs as the Framework for Building Sustainable Places

[wds id=”1″] Great cities, towns and neighborhoods do not develop by trial and error. Rather, their growth is guided by the community vision of those who live and work there. This view underlies the work of Geoff Ferrell and Mary Madden, principals of the Washington, D.C.-based urban design and town planning firm Ferrell Madden, who […]

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FBCI Book Review: Zoned in the USA

FBCI Book Review: Zoned in the USA

Form-based codes are a big improvement over conventional zoning, but that’s a hard argument to make if advocates have a poor understanding of zoning and its history. Zoning is one of the least understood undercurrents shaping our world and experience. As affordable housing is increasingly out of reach for many Americans and the planet heats […]

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New Research on Signs Within a Walkable Street Environment by Roger Eastman

New Research on Signs Within a Walkable Street Environment by Roger Eastman

The Signage Foundation, a research organization based in Washington, D.C., is partnering with faculty and graduate students at Michigan State University on a research project that focuses on signage, urban design and form-based codes. This project is in its early stages; the research team has completed a literature review and is starting to conduct field […]

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Bringing User-Friendly Spaces to Costa Rica Requires Working with What Is and What Can Be

Bringing User-Friendly Spaces to Costa Rica Requires Working with What Is and What Can Be

What’s the best way to introduce the first form-based code in an entire country? A team led by architect and urban planner Eduardo Castillo Cortés took a micro approach, devising an FBC that would be implemented initially in only one of the four districts that make up the small city of Curridabat, Costa Rica. Located […]

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