The content and new look of Housing Giants is great.

The article "Beyond Zoning" (February) is very insightful. We truly are at a watershed time where post World War II Euclidean zoning is rapidly loosing favor because its failures have been all too painfully exposed.

Over the next 10 years, zoning systems will radically change. As the article observes, developers have a tendency to passively accept zoning. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in the dialog surrounding zoning change.

The early forms of Smart Codes and Form-Based Codes are tremendous advances over Euclidean zoning. These codes also have the tendency to include an incentive/reward component — they are not entirely built on a "tradition of distrust." However, they are still very prescriptive and, in their own way, may still stymie future innovation. I am hopeful that Smart Codes and Form-Based Codes will become even more flexible, simple, generative and pattern-based as they begin to be adopted and used.

Much of the zoning dialog is occurring within The Congress for the New Urbanism, which is a very open, collegial organization. There is a great opportunity within CNU for developers to both learn and inform. For the good of the country and our industry, now is the window of opportunity for developers to contribute our wisdom to the changes that are quickly gathering momentum.

Perry Bigelow, Bigelow Homes, Aurora, Ill.

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