Make Art, not Sprawl: Using Form-Based Codes to Create Complete, Compact, and Livable Suburban Communities

North American cities are experiencing rapid rates of urbanization and development, and it has become evident that the conventional Euclidean zoning model has failed to guide growth in a healthy, livable, and sustainable direction. This model, along with existing municipal fiscal policies and social preferences, enables the production of built forms that are conducive to sprawl. This MRP focuses on form-based codes (FBCs), and how this planning tool can be used to help combat sprawl and achieve the successful development of Smart Growth communities within a suburban context. An understanding of the existing literature, best practices, and analysis of the existing built form in the Fleetwood Town Center neighbourhood of the City of Surrey, British Columbia will help to justify the need for a more flexible zoning model. This research has shaped a set of recommendations to the City of Surrey to aid them in the development and implementation of their own FBCs.