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Chair of Architecture and Urban Design
Asst. Prof. Dr. Alex Lehnerer
Grand Urban Rules

Design Rules and Design With Rules!

Cities as cultural products are neither ‘built’ nor ‘planned,’ at best they are guided and steered in a certain direction. Therefore, rules and regulations are one of the few tools that are actually suitable to guide future development within such collective and complex urban settings.

We strongly believe that the field of (urban) design should not simply adhere to these standards as some neutrally existing context but should actively engage in discussing them in order to make them subject to design as well. read more

Office for urban regulation

Transfer of Development Rights

New York

If a parcel is not developed to the maximum allowable height, then the owner can permanently sell this potential to a neighboring site. If all of these sites have already been built to their height capacity, then the city administration has the authority to extend the vicinity surrounding the building in question in order to ensure the continued transfer of development rights. This happens within the area of a specially devised district (SD).

  • Potential transfer of development rights.

Rule category

Motivation
Contextual Regimes: issues depending on the immediate context and its preservation, economic and social regimes, traditions, etc.
The Kind of Rule
Rule that stipulates an upper limit.
Rule that works as reference, ratio, or dependency.
Rule that is tied to a certain zone.
Domain
Rule that has a strong influence on urban density and its distribution.
Rule that regulates building heights.
Scale
Neighborhood Rule: Rule that works at neighborhood scale.
See also:

SD


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