Design Guidelines

*Excerpt taken from Columbus Planning Guide

Urban Form

Definition
Urban form speaks to the major (cognitive) components that comprise an area (districts, corridors,
nodes and centers, edges and gateways, and landmarks). The extent to which these components are
well defined is a basis for whether they communicate a consistent message or image of a given area or
neighborhood.

Benefits

• A positively well defined urban form (and its various components) communicates a positive image(s) about a community, thereby reinforcing its desirability as a place to live, visit or conduct business.

• A poorly defined urban form, or an urban form that communicates negative images about ac ommunity will serve as a disincentive to people to choose to live, visit, or conduct business in that community.

Policies and Best Practices

Districts
A large city such as Columbus is viewed both in larger and smaller geographic components, from large
region (Central Ohio, metropolitan Columbus) to increasingly smaller parts. Within the city, the 26
relatively large areas for planning purposes have been delineated. People typically identify smaller
geographic areas that are more relevant to their personal use of geography. Districts are smaller areas of
the city; when well defined they communicate an image of an area.

• Districts should be defined based upon historic development patterns, geographic boundaries, or political boundaries that are readily accepted by the community.

• Districts should be defined by a common architecture, land use, density, or other similarly repeating characteristic or pattern. Such identified characteristics are conserved to promote a positive image of the district.

• Plans should incorporate design guidelines that reinforce an existing physical image for a district
  or communicate a new image supported by the community.