Rendering courtesy of urban-advantage.com, image manipulation by nancy Soulliard /ENR

As more young college graduates and elderly empty-nesters are drawn to urban centers for employment and active social and cultural lifestyles, retaining and preserving buildings, community legacy and open space also are becoming increasingly more important.

How the size, shape, scope and use of structures interact in a city can make it a great place or just another town. When the formula comes together, the result can be desirable, green and provide a sense of community.

Form-Based Codes (FBCs) are tools that can help planners get a leg up on encouraging the private sector to build great places that preserve open space, are sustainable, enhance cultural and historic resources and redevelop in-fill areas. Properly applied, FBCs produce lively streetscapes, delightful structures of appropriate size and scale, warm and welcoming facades and public places and transit- and pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. They all work together.

FBCs are not a top-down process, but rather encourage and require community participation in the planning process. FBCs are proactive and prescriptive and include a regulating plan, public-space standards and building-form standards. Many cities now are moving down this path, although it has many names. FBCs achieve predictable results by controlling physical form. Using the tool, urban planners can focus on the appearance and quality of space and buildings and their relationship to one another to define “place” as opposed to the strict land usage that is found in traditional zoning.

Granted, cities with no land-use restrictions have their problems: Who wants their church sited next to a gas station or massage parlor? But zoning also causes problems: Density, setbacks and floor-area ratios are not specific to the form and shape of a structure. They cannot be fine-tuned in a zone. Zoning also segregates rather than unifies.

More people should be asking whether all daily needs can be met within walking distance of a residence. If a neighborhood has all necessary services, a city can save energy, cut pollution and encourage exercise for well being. Such a plan is sustainable and smart.