Form-based codes foster predictable built results and a high-quality public realm by using physical form and design (rather than separation of uses) as the organizing principle for the code. Form-based codes offer a powerful alternative to conventional zoning, allowing communities to consider more than land use and density.

The streets of our cities and towns are an important part of our communities. They allow children to get to school and parents to get to work They bring together neighbor sand parents to get to work. They bring together neighbors and draw visitors to neighborhood stores. These streets ought to be designed for everyone whether young or old, on foot or on bicycle, in a car or in a bus –but too often they are designed only for speeding cars or creeping traffic jams.