play slideshow

Let’s face it, for most people, zoning is confusing, complicated, and just plain dull. But zoning laws have a fundamental impact on the value and quality of our city and neighborhoods. The City of Buffalo now has an opportunity to reform decades-old zoning codes to attract investment and create development that citizens actually want.

This is an educational and outreach effort, intended not only to help demystify the concept of zoning, but to build awareness and consensus around the issue of form-based zoning in Buffalo. The focal point of the project is a presentation and lecture which is being shown to local leaders and community groups. An online version of the slideshow is also part of this website.

Please check the Newsroom for related news, scheduled presentations, and other events. If you’d like your organization to host a presentation, please feel free to contact us. There are many other resources available on this website. Check the Resources page for links, documents, and downloads.

Form-based codes are a response to a need for a better system to regulate development. Since the mid-20th century, the widespread adoption of conventional “use-based” zoning regulations has discouraged compact, walkable communities. In addition, conventional zoning has proven unable to define, create, and preserve desired neighborhood character, and has therefore failed to give communities the development they envisioned.

Peter Katz   Cities have to move to a new system. They should look at the streets they like and the public spaces they like and then write the rules to get more of what they like and less of what they don’t. Conventional zoning doesn’t do that. It just gives a use and a density and then you hope for the best. ” Peter Katz Founding President, Form-Based Codes Institute Founding Executive Director, Congress for the New Urbanism Professor-in-practice, Urban Affairs & Planning, Virginia Tech

A form-based code (FBC) is a method of regulating development to achieve a specific urban form. Form-based codes have proven more effective in creating predictable, high-quality development because they focus mainly on the appearance of buildings and public space (the physical form), as opposed to conventional zoning codes, which lack design standards and focus almost exclusively on use and density.

Adopted as legal municipal regulations, form-based codes create predictable development because they are more user-friendly, simpler to administer, and based directly on shared community vision.

Zoning code reform is being driven by some of the larger challenges that municipalities face, including suburban sprawl, the deterioration of traditional villages, towns, and cities, and an adverserial, often litigious development environment. Form-based codes are a tool to help meet these challenges by addressing the deficiencies in the current system, and to provide local governments the regulatory means to achieve development goals with greater certainty.

This website is part of a local effort in Buffalo, NY, one of many individual community projects across the nation sponsored by the American Institute of Architects’ Blueprint for America. Blueprint is the cornerstone of AIA150, the AIA’s 150th Anniversary Celebration. Intended to inspire communities to come together around architecture, Blueprint provides the opportunity for individuals to collaborate with AIA architects and share their ideas for creating livable communities.

This is the product of AIA Buffalo/Western New York with support from various community organizations including The New Millennium Group of WNY. The project serves as a focal point of a larger community dialog in the City of Buffalo. Architects and planners, community activists, and local Buffalo leaders have discussed the need for zoning reform for many years. This conversation mirrors national trends, as form-based codes prove to be a successful emerging alternative to conventional “use-based” zoning.