Smart Growth America (SGA) is pleased to announce the return of the Form-Based Codes Award, now in its 17th year. As a program of SGA, the Form-Based Codes Institute has supported the FBC Award program to recognize exemplary form-based codes that advance the practice of form-based zoning for equitable development, people-oriented communities, and predictable development results. SGA would like to acknowledge the generosity of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund and the Barr Foundation in supporting this year’s FBC Award.
2024 Form-Based Code Award submission now live
Form-based codes create a predictable, high-quality public realm by using physical form, rather than separation of uses, as the primary organizing principle. Form-based codes address the relationship between building facades and the public realm, the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and types of streets and blocks. Form-based codes focus on predictability, the form of buildings, and creating people-scale buildings and communities, creating a regulatory tool that gives development unity, efficient organization, social vitality, and walkability to our cities, towns, and neighborhoods.
Each year, the jury of experts—code writers, urban designers, code administrators, and developers—evaluate the applications against the form-based codes Standards of Practice, and this year, the jury will have the ability to recognize equitable elements of code submissions. Winning codes demonstrate the successful application of these standards across various contexts. This year’s FBC Award is particularly exciting because, while form-based codes are inherently equitable, this year’s award emphasizes a deeper exploration of equitable development and equitable FBCs by focusing on those that explicitly highlight and prioritize equity in the code documents, as well as expectations for equitable development that occurs from following the FBC.
The 2024 Form-Based Codes Award winner will be announced at the end of October, and the announcement will be followed by a webinar that will feature representatives from the winning entry who will speak about the winning codes and their impact on the communities where they were adopted.
Both newly-adopted and established codes showing positive built results are eligible. SGA encourages code applications that have been adopted for disinvested neighborhoods or communities of color, or that have been drafted by minority professionals. You can find a complete list of criteria that the jury will consider in the entry form and instructions PDF.
Click here for the entry form and instructions.
Submissions to SGA must be received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, September 20, 2024. If you have questions, concerns, or thoughts please contact Jamie Zouras, Senior Program Manager, SGA [email protected], subject: FBC Award Questions.
Please note: codes that have been written, or worked on in any capacity, by members of the Form-Based Codes Award jury or their organization are ineligible for consideration during the time of that juror’s service.