Design coding
Design codes that fix a place's traditional character, so that many hands can build one coherent place.
A good place is rarely the work of one architect. It is the work of many, over many years, following shared rules.
We write design codes that fix a place's traditional character: building lines, heights, proportions, materials, window rhythm, roof forms, and the ornament levels permitted on each street or plot. Many architects and builders can then deliver a coherent place, plot by plot, over years.
For municipalities that want a local design code for a new district or a growing town.
For master developers who control plot sales and want every plot to fit the whole.
In a 2012 UCL survey of English planning authorities, every authority that responded said design codes gave developers a far greater degree of certainty. The survey is self-reported and the response rate was low, so we read it as a statement about certainty, and nothing more.