City of Miami Receives National APA Award for Pioneering Zoning Reform
Posted January 13, 2011
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The American Planning Association (APA) has selected the City of Miami to receive the 2011 National Planning Excellence Award for Best Practice for Miami 21.
For the first time ever in a major U.S. city, Miami 21 uses a form-based zoning code - a method of regulating development to achieve a specific urban form that improves the relationship between streets and the public realm.
In the past 10 years, Miami has experienced unprecedented growth. The city needed to address its historical sprawl, automobile-dependency and use-segregated communities. The new plan presents a solution for continued growth without infringing upon established neighborhoods, while encouraging walkability and better interaction between the public and private realm.
The heart of Miami 21 is the form-based zoning code. The code addresses the relationship between buildings and the public spaces that surround them, the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another, transitions between different types and sizes of buildings, and the scale and types of streets and blocks.
Miami 21 is also geared to ensure sustainability, predictability and efficiency in development, growth and planning. One of the key strengths of Miami 21 is its incorporation of responsible environmental stewardship. It also will make neighborhoods more pedestrian-friendly.
The Best Practice award is given for a specific planning element or process that advances the role of planning. The award for Miami 21 will be presented at a special luncheon at APA's National Planning Conference in Boston on April 11, 2011. The plan will also be featured in an upcoming issue of Planning magazine, APA's flagship publication.
"At the heart of this ambitious, innovative and comprehensive overhaul of Miami's zoning code is a desire to improve the long-term quality of life and city livability for Miami today and tomorrow," said Marie L. York, faicp, APA Board member and 2011 National Planning Awards Jury Chair.
"For us, Miami 21 is not simply the code, but the five-year-long community building process that led up to it," said Francisco J. Garcia, planning director. "We hope this recognition will provide encouragement to planning agencies nationwide to engage their respective constituencies proactively in an effort to better understand their needs and aspirations as well as their fears and concerns."
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