At the sixteenth annual Congress of the New Urbanism, held in Austin last week, Fort Worth South, Inc. was up for the Driehaus Award for Form-Based Codes. The new Near Southside Development Standards and Guidelines were recently approved by the city, and guide development in that district into following high standards of true urban design. They’re very well done and very progressive; if you haven’t read over them, and you’re interested in this sort of thing, check them out (PDF link). They’ll give you an idea of how the Near Southside will develop from now on. Form-based codes address the relationship between building facades and the public realm, the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and types of streets and blocks. The regulations and standards in Form-based codes, presented in both diagrams and words, are keyed to a regulating plan that designates the appropriate form and scale (and therefore, character) of development rather than only distinctions in land-use types.
The Driehaus Award, sponsored by the Form-Based Codes Institute, is an award given to planners and such that create top-quality, innovative, and progress design guidelines and codes that represent the finest in proper urban development. It makes me very proud to announce that we won! That’s right - the Near Southside Development Standards and Guidelines have won the Driehaus Award!
This is a big honor for the city and Fort Worth South. For a city that is (very incorrectly) perceived by some as not being very progressive in this regard, this is a big step that will make a lot of people sit up and pay attention to our continued urban renaissance as it moves forward. A big congratulations to Mike Brennan, Fort Worth South’s project planner, and the rest of the FWSI staff for this great payoff to all their hard work.
This is just the latest in a series of great steps for the Near Southside. Mark my words - that area is really going to become something special and fantastic as it continues to infill and redevelop.
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