Miami's Form Based Code Touted as New Urbanist Ideal

Zach Patton, executive editor of Governing magazine, writes:

Miami’s form-based code has been lauded by the international planning community as a progressive commitment to New Urbanist ideals. But getting to this point involved years of convincing skeptical developers, architects, neighborhood organizers and political leaders that this change was the right thing for the city. And the code still has plenty of critics, including, perhaps surprisingly, Tomás Regalado, the city’s current mayor. He acknowledges that Miami 21 “looks good on paper,” but says it’s proven difficult to implement on the ground. When asked whether the new code is an improvement over the way things used to be, Regalado pauses, holds up a finger and says, “Maybe.”