Zoning Design Specifications: Expanding the Language of Urban Design

There are only six habitable building design categories on the planet when classification is not based on building appearance and internal occupant activity. This limited number makes gross building area and shelter capacity prediction feasible for every acre of land based on the building design category chosen. The shelter capacity of each category is determined by design specification value decisions. These topics are listed in a category's design specification template. The values are correlated with an architectural algorithm and used by a category master equation to produce gross building area and shelter capacity options per acre. Changing one or more values in the category template produces a new set of predictions. This becomes significant when we realize that the ability to accurately predict gross building area alternatives and shelter capacity options per acre - for any activity - will determine our ability to correlate a growing presence with a planet that is no longer a world without end.Shelter capacity, intensity, intrusion, and dominance can now be measured by correlating the values assigned to the keystone decisions and master equations that define the six fundamental categories of human shelter formation on the planet. This is the language needed to accurately assess the shelter options available to Homo sapiens and the decisions needed to protect a human presence that depends on symbiotic solutions for sustainability.