Zyscovich says Miami 21 unduly restricts building design to the point that the city -- especially in high-density areas like downtown -- would become a monotonous landscape of big, square buildings. Land-use lawyer Carter McDowell, a leading critic of Miami 21, says other changes, including new fees for building super-tall, amount to an illegal restriction of property rights.

Zyscovich says the city can get the urban-friendly design it wants without Miami 21 by requiring that garages be screened or concealed with retail and residential units at ground level.

``If you simply do that, you don't have to change the whole code, and you leave the architect freedom to do a better building,'' he said.

Paradoxically, neighborhood activists say Miami 21 doesn't go far enough, failing to accomplish the goal that gave rise to the effort: limiting the size of tall buildings abutting low-scale residential areas.

In some places, including Southwest 27th Avenue, Miami 21 would allow overscaled buildings next to single-family and duplex neighborhoods, they complain. And although the tall structures would have to step back from their smaller neighbors in a stair shape to lessen their intrusiveness, critics say that doesn't solve the problem.

``There are a whole lot of issues they have not resolved, or they say they resolved and when you read it, they didn't really resolve,'' said Hadley Williams, a leader with Miami Neighborhoods United, a group that opposes Miami 21.

But city planners and their consultants at the Miami firm of Duany Plater-Zyberk insist the new code is far clearer than the old, closing loopholes and substituting diagrams for pages of legal verbiage.

They say they sought to balance property rights with neighborhood protection -- though not always to everyone's satisfaction.

``The negative voices are the loudest,'' said the city's lead consultant, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. ``Everyone is pointing to the agenda they didn't get, but they're not seeing the bigger picture.''

Plater-Zyberk and city planning chief Gelabert-Sanchez say architects will have almost complete freedom. The main restriction: tall buildings would have to step back after eight stories to allow light to reach streets.

``Once you learn it, we think it is much simpler,'' Gelabert-Sanchez said. ``And if you want to do something spectacular, a bold statement, or dedicate a space in front to a civic plaza, you can do it.''

The city began imposing its sidewalk-friendly principles on the Boulevard just before the real-estate boom hit full tilt. Building Zero was Cite, a mixed-use project occupying a full block on 19th Street.

Though some later buildings on Biscayne Boulevard would be larger, the template was set at Cite: The garage sits in the interior of the block, surrounded almost entirely by living and retail space, and no driveways interrupt the arcaded Boulevard sidewalk.

On side streets, townhomes hug the sidewalks. One row consists of ``live-work'' units, with office space downstairs and living quarters upstairs, occupied by, among others, a psychologist, interior designer and real-estate broker.

The complex is home to the Boulevard revival's earliest success, The Daily Creative Food Co., 2001 Biscayne Blvd., a deli packed at lunchtime since opening three years ago. Former New Yorker Adam Meltzer, the owner, saw the potential and liked how the building allows streetside dining.

``People told me I was crazy. But on day one we had a line of people out the door,'' he said.

Meltzer plans to expand into a space next door and begin opening for dinner. The best proof of success, he notes, is his new competition -- the salad and smoothie chains that moved in two doors down.

``The more, the merrier. It makes the whole area look better,'' he said. ``Look, this is not Lincoln Road. We're not trendy. We're here for the long haul.''

Leonardo Rodriguez witnessed the transformation first hand. He moved into Edgewater off the Boulevard when he first arrived from Cuba 15 years ago. ``It was really bad. You couldn't walk on the street. I was robbed twice,'' he recalled.

Eventually he moved to Miami Beach. But then he saw what was happening on the Boulevard, and chose a generous, affordable space on the ground floor of a new building on 18th Street to open his pet-grooming and boarding business, Pet Place.

``It's like New York, you see the same people all the time. They shop in the neighborhood, they walk their dogs,'' he said. ``It looks like a brand new city.''