Graphic rules in planning: A critical exploration of normative drawings starting from zoning maps and form-based codes

Abstract

This article is focused on the rules that we create using drawings (designs, pictures, paintings,\ud etc.) which will be termed ‘graphic rules’. Its attention is therefore not simply on the use of\ud images in normative documents but also ‘as law’. We will delve into one of these types of graphic\ud rules: that is, graphic rules used in urban planning. The fact that graphic rules are widespread in\ud planning practices, and indeed typical of them, makes rules of this kind a particularly significant\ud field of interest for planning theory. An important point to stress is that while analysis of images\ud used descriptively has been under way for some time (although in many respects it is anything\ud but conclusive, despite what is generally thought), analysis of images used as rules is still in its\ud infancy. To gain deeper understanding of these particular and widespread forms of (graphic) rules\ud is therefore both theoretically and practically important

On Credentials

“…40 Interestingly, certain maps too, and also yellow signs posted along the official routes, can play an important documentary role for pilgrims (Dunn 2016, 22). The latter serve not merely as aids to navigation but also as normative drawings (Lorini 2019;Lorini and Moroni 2020a;Moroni and Lorini 2017) in the sense that they provide instructions which have the force of obligation (Smith 2013). The pilgrim is for example forbidden to deviate from the prescribed route for more than 12 miles in any direction.…”

The determination of the “true” property boundary in planned development: a Coasian analysis

“…Lai and Davies (2017) treated cadastral boundaries laid down in surveyor's primeval town plans (i.e. plans for town and farm lots allocated by grant or sale at colonization), as distinct from those map-based boundaries subsequently imposed by modern town planners under planning legislation as "zones", as insightfully analysed by Moroni and Lorini (2017), as both planned and planning boundaries.…”

“…As explained by Robert Home (1997) and Price (1995), these were the products of colonial surveyors. On the basis of their work, typically following a grid-iron pattern, we have the modern "town plans" or zoning maps [as explained in Lai and Davies (2017)] like that exhibited as Figure 1 in Moroni and Lorini (2017). Kiet (2010) indicated a possible support for this view in his account of the most common form of development of the traditional Arab city.…”

Propositions as (non-linguistic) objects and philosophy of law: Norms-as-propositions

“…This is exactly what we understand by a normative proposition". Emphasis on non-linguistic normativity is present in Moroni & Lorini 2016, B. Smith 1995, Studnicki 1970 We can rely on a hyper-naive definition of 'linguistic' as "verbal or written language" and get started. It is a cheap solution, but at least it allows us to develop an argument.…”