What is a 'transect-based' zoning code?

A transect-based code organizes districts along a rural-to-urban intensity gradient rather than by conventional single-use categories. Albany's USDO uses this approach, with districts stepping from lower-intensity residential contexts through walkable mixed-use neighborhoods to the highest-intensity urban core near Downtown.

How do I find the zoning for an address in Albany?

Use the City of Albany Department of Planning & Development's USDO zoning map, which shows the applicable transect district or special/civic designation for a specific parcel.

Does Albany's zoning code include sustainability requirements?

Yes. The USDO combines zoning, subdivision, and green-building/sustainability standards — such as stormwater and tree-canopy requirements — into a single ordinance, so a project's district designation drives both its use mix and baseline sustainability obligations.

Albany, New York · city zoning districts · 13 districts

Albany, NY zoning map & districts

Albany, New York's state capital, replaced its legacy zoning code in 2017 with the Unified Sustainable Development Ordinance (USDO), administered by the Department of Planning & Development. Unlike most other upstate New York cities, Albany's USDO is organized as a transect-based framework: districts step from lower-intensity, primarily residential contexts through walkable mixed-use neighborhoods to the city's highest-intensity urban core near Downtown and the Empire State Plaza/Capitol area, plus separate designations for large institutional sites and civic/public uses.

The code City of Albany Unified Sustainable Development Ordinance

Albany zoning map

The interactive map needs JavaScript. See the official City of Albany GIS Hub - Zoning instead.

Residential 199
Mixed-use 95
Special purpose 64
Industrial 17
Downtown / core 1

Source: City of Albany GIS Hub - Zoning, retrieved 2026-09-04. Basemap: © OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Find a district by address

District lookup only. No bulk standards and no ordinance citations are held for this city yet. Not a zoning verification.

Source: the official City of Albany GIS Hub - Zoning , retrieved 2026-09-04 — the authoritative source for current boundaries.

Parcel zoning is confirmed through the City of Albany Department of Planning & Development's USDO zoning map, which also publishes the ordinance text.

A published summary is never the authority. The adopted ordinance and the city's official zoning map govern, and both change — verify the district and every standard on your parcel before you rely on it.

How zoning works in Albany

Because the USDO folds subdivision and green-building/sustainability standards into the same ordinance as zoning, a project's district designation drives both its allowed use mix and a set of baseline sustainability requirements (such as stormwater and tree-canopy standards) in a single review, rather than through separate code chapters.

Albany zoning districts by family

The 13 district codes below are the ones that decide most projects in Albany, grouped by what they are for rather than by the order the ordinance prints them.

Key districts in the City of Albany Unified Sustainable Development Ordinance — a curated reference, not the exhaustive list. Confirm against the current adopted code.
Code	District	What it is for
Residential 3 districts
R-1L	Residential, Single-Family, Low Density	Confirmed via city zoning GIS; replaces the non-existent 'R-2' code in the prior list.
R-1M	Residential, Single-Family, Medium Density	Confirmed via city zoning GIS; replaces the non-existent 'R-T' code in the prior list.
R-M	Residential, Multi-Family	Confirmed via city zoning GIS.
Mixed-use 5 districts
MU-NE	Mixed-Use, Neighborhood Edge	Confirmed via city zoning GIS.
MU-NC	Mixed-Use, Neighborhood Center	Confirmed via city zoning GIS.
MU-CH	Mixed-Use, Community Highway	Confirmed via city zoning GIS; was missing from prior list.
MU-CU	Mixed-Use, Community Urban	Confirmed via city zoning GIS.
MU-FM	Mixed-Use, Form-Based Midtown	Live layer Descr = "Mixed-Use, Form-Based Midtown"; ReZoneClass = "Commercial / Office". Prior curated name "Mixed-Use, Flex/Manufacturing" / family industrial was wrong on both counts (no manufacturing use is described). Family set to mixed rather than commercial: the district's own name is explicitly "Mixed-Use", and Albany's sibling MU-F* codes (MU-FS, MU-FW, MU-FC) are already classified "mixed" in zone-cat-overrides.json for the same reason -- ReZoneClass's "Commercial / Office" reads as the GIS's generic base-zoning bucket (no "mixed-use" option in that field), not a contradiction of the district's own stated character.
Downtown / core 1 district
MU-DT	Mixed-Use, Downtown	Confirmed via city zoning GIS; was missing from prior list, which had no downtown district.
Industrial 2 districts
I-1	Light Industrial	Confirmed via city zoning GIS.
I-2	General Industrial	Confirmed via city zoning GIS; was missing from prior list.
Special purpose 2 districts
MU-CI	Mixed-Use, Campus/Institutions	Confirmed via city zoning GIS.
LC	Land Conservation	City GIS gives this name as 'Land Conservation', not 'Local Commercial' as previously listed.

Albany zoning — common questions

What is a 'transect-based' zoning code?: A transect-based code organizes districts along a rural-to-urban intensity gradient rather than by conventional single-use categories. Albany's USDO uses this approach, with districts stepping from lower-intensity residential contexts through walkable mixed-use neighborhoods to the highest-intensity urban core near Downtown.
How do I find the zoning for an address in Albany?: Use the City of Albany Department of Planning & Development's USDO zoning map, which shows the applicable transect district or special/civic designation for a specific parcel.
Does Albany's zoning code include sustainability requirements?: Yes. The USDO combines zoning, subdivision, and green-building/sustainability standards — such as stormwater and tree-canopy requirements — into a single ordinance, so a project's district designation drives both its use mix and baseline sustainability obligations.

Working in New York? Get on the list.

The parcel layer lands in the order demand does. Illinois went first because that's where the deals were; the next state is decided by who tells us what they're trying to underwrite. Tell us where you're building and what you wanted to run — you'll hear from us when New York opens, and sooner if we need a test parcel.

Keep reading

← New York zoning — who holds the zoning power in New York, under which enabling statute, and the reforms that override local rules.

Other New York cities

The zoning reference → — every state, plus city-level district guides like this one.

Albany zoning summaries on this page are provided for information, not legal advice. Confirm every project against the current adopted code for the jurisdiction.