Seeking to improve the design quality of your community, or looking for ways to encourage mixed-use development? This video is part one of a series that explores the basics of form-based codes and some common pitfalls.

Watch Kevin Klinkenberg discuss and compare commonly used techniques, and progressive ideas such as Form-Based Codes (FBCs).
Form-Based Codes: Prescriptive Vs. Proscriptive

Klinkenberg served on a panel of experts at the Mid-American Regional Council on FBCs and context-sensitive street design, as both are key elements for walkable neighborhoods. Stay tuned for the end of the series for the full downloadable powerpoint presentation.

180° Urban Design is leading a charrette this week in Overland Park, KS, as part of a project to create citywide mixed-use design standards and update the city’s overall design guidelines documents.

Click here for more information.

From The Gazette-Colorado Springs

Colorado Springs is embarking on two ambitious planning efforts designed to guide and shape growth in the heart of the city for years to come.

If they work – and similar efforts have breathed new life into the urban core of other cities – downtown would evolve into a more pedestrian-friendly center of activity.

Imagine high-density housing, alternative forms of public transportation and a wider mix of offerings, such as grocery stores, high-end restaurants and maybe even a ballpark, an idea that’s been tossed around before.
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Kevin Klinkenberg guest writes for OneKC Voice about maintaining and developing a healthy downtown.

Who doesn’t want a healthy downtown? After all, isn’t that like mom and apple pie?

The truth is, universally people declare that they wish their immediate downtown was vibrant and healthy, as well as other downtowns in the region. And yet we seem to struggle to achieve this in so many of our communities. Why is this? Do we not mean what we say?

Of course, the answers are complex. In some cases, we have willfully presided over the demise of the hearts of our communities, but most of the time it’s unintended consequences that have caused so much damage. We’ve created big roadways that bypass or cut off our downtowns, land use policies that make redevelopment difficult, encouraged or subsidized their competition in shopping centers with free parking, and in general not realized the appeal that these places have to so many people. But the good news is threefold:

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