Form-Based Code Revisited: Leveraging Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Spatial Optimization to Chart Commuting Efficiency Landscapes under Alternative City Planning Frameworks

Abstract

The core promise of land use and zoning reforms is to metamorphose the car-dominated urban spatial structure—which is the legacy of use-based, modernist land use and transportation planning of the past century—into human-centered forms of urbanism characterized by walkable, accessible, transit-friendly, ecologically sustainable, equitable and resilient urban fabrics. This empirical study aims to measure the effectiveness of a reformed city planning framework, known as the form-based code (FBC), in terms of optimizing journey-to-work trips. To this end, the study integrates geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial analysis techniques with linear programming, including a variant of the transportation problem, to evaluate aggregated and disaggregated commuting efficiency metrics. Utilizing the zonal data (ZDATA) for the Orlando metropolitan region, the proposed models account for the commuting terrains associated with three major workforce cohorts, segmented along key industry sectors, within the context of three urban growth scenarios. The findings suggest that the FBC system holds the potential to enhance commuting patterns through various place-based strategies, including juxtaposing, densifying, and diversifying employment and residential activities at the local level. At the regional level, however, the resultant urban form falls short of an ideal jobs–housing arrangement across major industry sectors.