Summary

Standards and codes dictate virtually all aspects of urban development. The samestandards for subdividing land, grading, laying streets and utilities, and configuring rights-of-wayand street widths to accommodate cars (rather than pedestrians) have been adopted in many areas ofthe world regardless of variations in local environments. In The Code of the City, Eran Ben-Josephexamines the relationship between standards and place making. He traces the evolution of codes andstandards and analyzes their impact on the modern city and its suburbs, arguing that it is time fordevelopment regulations to reflect site-specific and localized physical design.Standards and codeswere meant to bring order and safety to the city building process. But now, Ben-Joseph argues, theseaccumulated rules and their widespread application illustrate a disconnect between the originalrationale for their existence and their actual effect on the natural and human environment. Todiscover how this separation of codes from local conditions came about, he looks at the origins ofurban standards and their use, from early civilization through the rapid urbanization of thenineteenth century. He provides examples that demonstrate how standards have shaped residentialdevelopments and reshaped the natural landscape. And he considers alternatives for the future --innovation and de facto deregulation by private developers, new design technologies, and place-basedregulations reflecting local conditions. Standards, writes Ben-Joseph, will continue to shape thebuilt environment, but they must be flexible enough to allow for innovation and contribute to thedevelopment of sustainable and desirable communities.