Less than 2 weeks left to nominate a code

The Driehaus Form-Based Codes Award

Friend, the deadline to submit a form-based code for the 2020 Driehaus Award is just under two weeks away, on April 17; and submitting a zoning code has never been easier!

In response to constraints imposed due to COVID-19, we're making the entire Driehaus Award nominating process digital. Just submit your completed entry form, relevant code document(s), and images online. That's it! No need to send a hard copy through the mail. 

In past years, we've honored codes from a wide variety of places—from Leander, TX to Santa Ana, CA to Miami, FL—that exemplify the best of form-based codes. In 2007, the first year of the Driehaus Awards, the small but rapidly growing city of Leander, TX was praised for a transit-oriented development code with clear "architectural standards intended to characterize the growing community." (Since 2007, Leander's population has more than doubled.) In 2010, we hailed the Miami 21 code as "a national groundbreaking model [that] completely replaced the existing zoning code" and made walkable urbanism the default in development for the entire city. And in 2012, Santa Ana, CA was lauded for the inclusion of many missing middle housing best practices in their Transit Zoning Code which covers the city's downtown and adjacent transit station.

While all form-based codes rely on the same fundamentals—focusing on building form, the public realm, and people scaled communities—one size does not fit all. Our past winners show the diversity of places that thrive under this form-based framework for growth. Will your community be among the future winners?

Submit a code before the deadline on 5pm ET on April 17 for your chance to win a 2020 Driehaus Form-Based Code Award.

The Form-Based Codes Institute would like to acknowledge the generosity of the Richard H. Driehaus Charitable Lead Trust in making this award possible.

Top: T4 Zone illustration for Miami, FL (Image: DPZ CoDesign, James Wassell)