Form-Based Codes Institute at Smart Growth America

FBCI News

Progress & preservation in award winning zoning codes

Progress & preservation in award winning zoning codes

Two very different communities are taking home the 2020 Driehaus Award.

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Like the Oscars, but for zoning

Like the Oscars, but for zoning

The Richard H. Driehaus Form-Based Code Award is back for its 12th year! If your community has adopted a form-based code that is promoting people-scaled development and a mix of uses, send us your code. The Driehaus Award recognizes exemplary form-based codes that advance the practice of form-based zoning in both composition and implementation. Both […]

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(Re)coding communities for smart growth

(Re)coding communities for smart growth

There’s a secret weapon available to communities that want to modernize their zoning codes and help make smarter growth the norm. FBCI’s Codes for Communities is a wide-ranging technical assistance program at Smart Growth America that covers all kinds of zoning reform and guidance on form-based codes. In just two years, the program has had tremendous […]

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Form-based codes: A means to equity in a compassionate city

Form-based codes: A means to equity in a compassionate city

The Columbia Pike form-based code is helping Arlington County, VA preserve or replace an estimated 1,300 affordable housing units that were built with public funds. Centro is a new mixed-use development that will add more housing and include a much needed major grocery store for the corridor. (Image: Credit Arlington County Government) A century of traditional […]

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A decade of lessons on good zoning

A decade of lessons on good zoning

Trinity Boulevard in East Fort Worth is currently a highway but will serve as a town center. Rendering courtesy Gateway Planning. The Driehaus Form-Based Codes Award has recognized exemplary form-based codes since 2008. Looking back at all the submissions over the years—more than 100—reveals how the practice of form-based coding has matured and evolved. Driehaus […]

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CNU’s Project for Code Reform: when a new form-based code isn’t in the cards

CNU’s Project for Code Reform: when a new form-based code isn’t in the cards

In September 2018, the Congress for New Urbanism published “The Users Guide to Code Reform” – the product of a two-year effort working with Michigan communities to develop tools that municipalities can use to reform their zoning codes to enable better quality develop. Susan Henderson and Matt Lambert – two of the coding and design […]

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Downtown Las Vegas: “The legend reinvented”

Downtown Las Vegas: “The legend reinvented”

After two years of robust education and community engagement, the City of Las Vegas is ready to implement their downtown master plan, using a new a form-based zoning code. The city credits our Form-Based Codes Institute’s comprehensive three-course curriculum for helping to achieve this first-of-a-kind achievement in Nevada, which city officials believe will lead to […]

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FBCI announces 2018 winners of the Richard H. Driehaus Form-Based Code Award

FBCI announces 2018 winners of the Richard H. Driehaus Form-Based Code Award

Honoring achievement in the writing and implementation of form-based codes The Form-Based Codes Institute (FBCI) at Smart Growth America is pleased to announce the winners of the tenth annual award for achievement in the writing and implementation of form-based zoning codes: the Akanda SmartCode for the Akanda Commune in Gabon, Africa and the Beaufort Code, for the City […]

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