Smart Code: What is it?

Well, it's transect, form based code that takes as its cue the precepts of New Urbanism: and New Urbanism is an urban planning trend focused on replacing sprawl with walkable, mixed use, transit oriented communities.

www.smartcodecentral.org
Concerning the recent forum, "Protecting Small Neighborhoods by Reducing Sprawl (Smart Code) Presented by Robert Orr, FAIA": If you want more information, or to stay in touch, contact smartgrowthrockland@hotmail.com

 

We had 114 people attend the workshop on Smartcode!! Thank you!

Given by Robert Orr, FAIA,
7:00 p.m., Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Rockland City Hall

Sponsored by the
Rockland Comprehensive Panning Commission

As the failures of uncontrolled sprawl development are
becoming more clear, more and more Americans are
seeking a return to an in-town lifestyle, one designed for
pedestrians and not automobiles. To safely walk to
neighborhood businesses for goods and services is a key
component in attracting these returning village dwellers,
but allowing for such development is often at odds with
current zoning practices.

Robert Orr will discuss ways in which communities can,
by rethinking traditional approaches to zoning, provide a
framework that encourages more mixed-use development
oriented to foot traffic, which enhances a neighborhood's
quality of life. His presentation will include examples of
designs to be avoided as well as emulated, and also how
New Urbanism can be adapted to existing cities and
towns.

Robert Orr FAIA is an award-winning architect, Smart Growth
,
planner and one of the originators of New Urbanism, which
aims to create walkable, mixed-use, neighborhoods. His
collaboration with Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk at
Seaside, Florida in 1982 was honored by Time Magazine as
"...the most astonishing design achievement of its era and one
might hope the most influential." A Founder of the Seaside
Institute, a think-tank on community design, Robert also serves
on the Board of the New Haven Town Green Special Services
District, Liberty Community Services (providing housing for
homeless with AIDS), 1000 Friends of Connecticut, the Vestry of
Trinity Church on the Green and many other vision-based
organizations in Florida, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts,
Vermont and Connecticut. He received his MArch from Yale
and his BA from the University of Vermont. A practitioner,
professor, lecturer, and writer, Robert lives with his wife and four
children in New Haven, Connecticut.
More info contactsmartgrowthrockland@hotmail.com