Neighborhood Design Center, Inc.

This page is meant as a depository for resources available to those looking to make zoning and municipal codes more sustainable.

The City of Madison’s zoning code rewrite web pages have links to a number of resources, especially related to “form-based” codes.

The University of Denver, Sturm College of Law’s Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute produces a number of documents addressing sustainability and municipal codes. Search the Law College site for sustainable zoning to access powerpoints and reports. They produce a great document called “Sustainable Community Development Code: A Code for the 21st Century,” (2 MB).

Albuquerque, New Mexico is moving ahead with “form-based” zoning codes. As described in the New Mexico Independent article, “Green growth gambit,” the codes draw mixed response. Some see it as advancing the City’s plans for more compact, walkable development by setting clearer standards for mixed-use development and building forms that enhance public spaces. Others see the danger of an approval process with less neighborhood input (when proposals meet the new zoning requirements). Sound familiar?