Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Zoning Codes


Zoning is a device to regulate land use planning by local government. It is first used as “practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another.” Nowadays, the function of zoning expands to regulate the building height, lot coverage and some other similar characteristics.

(Resource: http://www.holmesbeachfl.org/cities/cohb/default.asp?ID=67&section=2)
Zoning types in the United States: zoning codes has changed a lot with the development of urban planning theory, basically, there are four kinds of zoning codes: Euclidean, Performance, Incentive and Form-based.

Euclidean is named after the successful zoning code adopted in the town of Euclid, Ohio. Euclidean zoning codes segregate different land use into “specified geographic district”. In each district, sets  “standard stipulating limitation” on development activities.
Performance codes also calls “effects-based planning”, it uses “performance-based or goal-oriented criteria” to limit every parcel on a certain proposed development projects.
Incentive zoning establishes “a base level of limitations and a reward scale to entice developers to incorporate the desired development criteria”. Incentive zoning attempts to use reward to encourage developers to meet desired goals.
Form-based codes regulate the type of land use, even the form that land use may take. It is more flexible than Euclidean zoning code.

Context resource from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning

2 comments:

  1. Zoning is very useful way to draw a base map of city before design. However, Jane Jacobs said that zoning simplify a city because it set a big block for just one use. Do you agree with her opinion?

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  2. I think zoning is a good way to lead people to use its land optimally. I agree that zoning prohibit other use of land, but regulating land use to some extent is necessary, or individual will only apply their land for the best benefit, ignoring the social welfare.

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