Sustainable Zoning Practices

Sustainable zoning practices address environmental, economic, and social equity factors by incorporating both performance and
form-based zoning tools, and responds to regional climate, ecology, and culture.

Traditional or Euclidean zoning, still predominantly used by municipalities nationwide, provides a high emphasis on separation of
uses and is typically not flexible enough to accommodate innovative development practices. This has been standard practice to
prohibit proximity of incompatible uses and to guide development patterns. Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoning is prevalent in various fast-growing communities to allow grouping of compatible land uses with various public amenities.

Form-Based codes focus on an integrated built form addressing a relationship between building facades and the public realm.

Sustainable zoning codes and regulations are intended to incorporate land use, building form, open space, energy, health, water quality, food production, climate change, recycling and the relationships among those. Sustainable zoning codes can remove barriers, create incentives, and provide mechanisms for sustainable development and smart growth.

Examples of sustainable zoning practices include:

What are Form-Based Codes?
According to the Form-Based Codes Institute, form-based codes foster predictable built results and a
high-quality public realm by using physical form (rather than separation of uses) as the organizing principle
for the code. They are regulations, not mere guidelines. They are adopted into city or county law. Form-based codes are an alternative to conventional zoning.

Form-based code places emphasis on how buildings relate to the street and most importantly, people.

        Frisco’s Form-Based Code Standards for Planned Development Districts.

Rural to Urban Transect created by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company