SmartCode is a unified development ordinance that incorporates Smart Growth and New Urbanism principles. It envisions intentional outcomes based on known components of urban design and is a more streamlined and efficient document than most conventional zoning codes.

The SunHerald —December 3, 2006
Residents hold SmartCode key: Citizens input will help shape zoning in neighborhoods (28K pdf)

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The SmartCode supports:

• community vision
• local character
• conservation of open lands
• transit options
• walkable and mixed-use neighborhoods.

The SmartCode prevents:

• wasteful sprawl development
• automobile-dominated streets
• empty downtowns
• a hostile public realm

Sebastopol Northeast Area SmartCode sketch

The SmartCode is considered a form-based code because it strongly addresses the form of development. Conventional zoning codes focus on use, density, and parking, and have caused systemic problems over the past sixty years by separating uses. The SmartCode goes beyond this by recognizing the fact that while those are important issues, the form of what gets built is equally important.

The political power of the SmartCode lies in the fact that instead of the one-size fits all conventional code approach, it allows different approaches in different areas within the community. This permits buy-in from all corners of the constituency. The true importance of this feature is that the current ad hoc basis for regulation of real estate development is greatly reduced.

The SmartCode is a transect-based code as well as a form-based code. It is based on the rural-to-urban Transect, which employs a framework of six zones of varying character, ranging from the wilderness to the urban core. The six zones are: T1-Natural, T2-Rural, T3-Sub-Urban, T4-General Urban, T5-Urban Center, and T6-Urban Core.

Credit: Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co.

The Transect is a powerful organizing principle because its standards can be coordinated across many other disciplines and documents, including LEED (environmental performance) and ITE (transportation). The SmartCode integrates the design process across professional disciplines, including traffic engineering, architecture, town planning, ecology, landscape architecture, and public works.

The SmartCode addresses development patterns at three scales of planning:

• the Sector (Regional) Scale
• the Community Scale
• the Block and Building Scale

The SmartCode folds zoning, subdivision regulations, and certain urban design standards into one compact document. Therefore it may replace a number of other documents. Its text is only 28 pages, plus tables and illustrations. It may be supplemented by architectural design guidelines or a pattern book, if the community desires more detailed regulation.

Adapted from SmartCodeCentral.com.