Greater Ohio Policy Center

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Form Based Code: A tool to create vital neighborhoods?

The City of Cincinnati is looking at a new way to create sustainable neighborhoods as the City Council approves $50,000 towards the development of neighborhood-based form based code. The posting Cincinnati form based codes initiative moves forward by Building Cincinnati explains that "Form-based codes are different from conventional zoning methods because they emphasize a building's form, massing,and relationship to the street and other buildings, instead of focusing on land uses." Other cities are closely watching Cincinnati and may advocate to form based codes in their own area. The post Using Form-Based Code to create 'places that matter' by For the Love of Dayton outlines Cincinnati's activities and wishes to see them replicated in Dayton.

Although the type of code offers more predictable development patterns that infuse buildings into the street in order to create a walkable, compact neighborhood.

There are precautions to keep in mind; one of which is that the quality of development outcomes is still dependent on civic engagment. The quality and objectives of the community plan that a code will implement, will determine the quality of the product (ie the neighborhood).