To make our built environment - our homes, businesses, shops, highways, and utilities - attractive, affordable, and efficient, while preserving open space and farmland, the residents of an area often decide to adopt codes to guide land development.
When cities and counties work to guide preservation and development in ways that reduce sprawl; allow housing to be built closer together; do not separate housing and workplace locations; conserve natural resources; and maximize the efficiency of infrastructure investments - it is called Smart Growth.
To help achieve smart growth, the SmartCode was developed. It is a system that guides open space preservation and land development by creating visual examples of how the community envisions future growth. The SmartCode approach recommends how development should look and function, and how much open space and development are desirable.
Most importantly, it provides goals for preservation and basic architectural appearance by compiling graphic examples of development for builders to incorporate in their plans. The SmartCode helps a community implement its own vision of the way it should look and function. It is meant to be tailored by residents, businesses, officials, professional planners, and architects to serve local needs.
SmartCode preservation and development guidance focuses on the form of the development-its appearance and the nature of the spaces it creates. For this reason, the SmartCode is said to be a "form-based" approach to managing land development. The form-based approach is better suited to preserving the traditional character of a community, providing flexibility and variety of design, and in fulfilling the desired future vision.
The SmartCode approach encourages mixed-use development, in which homes, stores and jobs are present in the same neighborhoods. This makes it possible for many people to shop and work closer to their homes. In addition, SmartCode encourages concentrating development near existing "centers" of activity, which strengthens communities and the efficiency of utility systems.
Some of the benefits of the SmartCode: