A MEANS TO EQUITY IN A COMPASSIONATE CITY

Speaking about zoning and equity at the Congress for the New Urbanism

For decades, policymakers and citizens groups have used zoning as a tool of segregation, whether intentionally or not. But the same tool—zoning—can be used to undo that segregation and create more equitable communities with a few key tweaks.

Today, Smart Growth America President and CEO Calvin Gladney and Form-Based Codes Institute Director Marta Goldsmith are joining a panel of experts at the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) to discuss the ways form-based zoning codes can promote equitable outcomes. If you're at CNU in Louisville, don't miss their panel: “Form-Based Codes: A means to equity in a compassionate city.”

Not at CNU? There's something for you, too

Catch a live stream of this evening's closing plenary at 5:30 p.m. ET: Building Together: Urbanism as an Engine for Resilient, Fair Communities. Calvin Gladney will be moderating the conversation with Jair Lynch, president of LOCUS (a program of Smart Growth America), and Maurice Cox. This discussion will focus on the legacy of longstanding systemic racism and economic inequity, due to a complex interplay of federal and local policies, that still promote economic exclusion of people of color in both booming cities and towns and places struggling with revitalization and a lack of investment.

Zoning and equity

Conventional land-use regulations (i.e. Euclidean zoning for the wonks among us) began in the 1920s. This type of zoning is based around the idea of separating areas strictly based on their intended use—residential, commercial, industrial, or civic. But these regulations also had the result of separating people, sometimes coincidentally and sometimes very purposefully, by income, ethnicity, or race, leading to inequitable treatment of residents and businesses.

By contrast, form-based zoning regulates the scale and character of buildings, streets, and blocks, placing much less emphasis on the size or number of units or the specific uses inside. The process for drafting a form-based code engages citizens of all stripes in creating a vision for their community and offering a range of choices that they can make to define where and how they want to live, work, play, and travel. Learn more about how form-based codes can create a more equitable and compassionate city.

Top image via Arlington County Government.