The article is an introduction to the monographic content of a volume containing articles dedicated to contemporary models of building residential districts in Europe, where the issue of an attractive, beautiful architectural form must integrate the dimension of energy efficiency. Individualism must be subject to flexible regulations so that the current understanding of the concept of spatial order brings with it commonly desirable qualities as an effective strategy against the processes of the city›s sprawl. Attached is the output of the HOPU-S URBACT II project (2007-2013), which became an inspiration for the topic.

This article reflects on the results the use and eff ectiveness of design coding as urban design / development tool, focusing on the roles of and the relationships between the different actors playing parts in the in the design coding process: the administration, the investors, the designers, the politics and the community. It reveals the gap in professional circles that impacts the development process, which, deepened by the continuous battle between the creative, the market-driven and the regulatory modes praxis. The article is polemical in that it points to the three main parties of this collective process, referring to is as the creative, market and regulatory tyranny. The author proposes that design coding, if used correctly, could be an effective tool regulating the essentials of urbanism, leaving room for creativity and enhanced market value. Design coding as such results in improvement of the quality of both urbans space and housing architecture.