CIP hosted a free webinar entitled “Form-Based Code: From Theory to Practice” on February 7, 2022. The webinar was designed to demystify Form-Based Code, explain its benefits, and use local examples to explore how planners can use this tool in their planning practice.

Across North America, modern planning has led to Euclidean zoning for which the land use is the main determinant. In response to the limitations and negative effects of Euclidean zoning practices, New Urbanism leaders have proposed Form-Based Code as an alternative tool that puts places before land uses, creates more sustainable urban environments, and generates greater economic opportunity. 

SPEAKERS

Louis Mazerolle urbaniste, MCIP

Louis Mazerolle is an urban planner with a master’s degree in urban design. His recent projects include: Form-Based Code for the City of Laval and the planning of the village of Petite-Rivière-St-François, which received the 2020 CIP Award for Planning Excellence Merit.

Marta Goldsmith
Director, Form-Based Codes Institute at Smart Growth America

Marta Goldsmith is Director of the Form-Based Codes Institute at Smart Growth America. She is a frequent speaker and thought leader on form-based codes, housing affordability, and equitable development. In that role, she teaches classes on form-based codes and leads technical assistance teams to help communities reform their zoning and enact more equitable land use policies.

Ms. Goldsmith has served as Senior Adviser to the Commissioner of the U. S. Public Buildings Service and COO of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), a global NGO that advises cities on sustainable transport and transit-oriented development. At the Urban Land Institute (ULI), Marta led programs for advisory services, community outreach, professional development, and land use policy. She also served as Executive Director of the Southern Governors Association and Special Assistant to the Governor of Florida for Economic and Community Development.

Ms. Goldsmith teaches graduate-level planning courses and was awarded a Kellogg Foundation National Leadership Fellowship. She holds a master’s degree in city planning from Harvard University and an undergraduate degree in sociology from Indiana University.

David Wise RPP, MCIP
Program Manager, City of Ottawa

David Wise is the Program Manager for Zoning, Interpretation and Intensification at the City of Ottawa. His team has delivered on a number of major moves including the recent “landscape first” infill strategy, form-based design changes to Westboro, expansion of low-rise apartment permissions in the inner-urban area, development of new high-rise regulations for tower development, and many other amendments both big and small, rural and urban. David is the principal in charge of overseeing development of the New Zoning By-law – a fundamental re-write of Ottawa’s land use regulations to make Ottawa the most livable mid-size City in North America.