PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE
This page of the website is a portal through an existing city neighborhood to a world of codes. We present one or more photographs of current conditions in the study area. There are numbered pop-ups highlighting some of the plans, standards and zoning codes that helped create or protect these conditions. We also link to an example of a contemporary form-based code (SmartCode v9) to compare the present reality of our our study areas with progressive coding practice. We will concentrate on three essential building-scale components of urbanism – height, setback, and frontage type – and one community-scale component – thoroughfare type.
For those who wish to delve deeper into research of codes, there are also numerous external links to primary sources.
Codes in Real Life also provides a protocol for users to photograph and collect their own material from other cities and post them here, or on your own sites, in a similar format. The protocol includes instructions and blank forms for performing an urban analysis called a Synoptic Survey to extract the DNA of any existing place for a future code.
We have provided two examples to get you started:
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Philadelphia, PA – traditional mixed use neighborhood |
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Coral Gables, FL – walkable residential area |
Click on one of the links to begin your journey.