Setbacks are the minimum distances a building must keep from parcel boundaries. They exist for light, fire separation and street continuity — and together with coverage they define the real buildable footprint. Here is how to read and apply them.
The three distances
- Front (road)
- commonly 5 m from the road-facing boundary; corner parcels can have two fronts
- Side
- commonly 3 m per side in detached order; zero on the attached side in row/twin order
- Rear
- often tied to building height (H/2 with a floor of 3–4 m); check the plan
These are common defaults, not universal law — the in-force plan and municipal regulation always override them.
From setbacks to buildable footprint
Offset every boundary inward by its setback and intersect the result: what remains is the buildable polygon. On regular parcels this is a smaller rectangle; on irregular or narrow parcels it can shrink dramatically or even vanish — which is why a feasibility study belongs before any promise to a client. Projections (çıkma) may extend over the setback within limits set by the regulation.
Edge cases worth knowing
- Corner parcels: two road fronts, two front setbacks — the footprint shrinks more than expected.
- Narrow parcels: side setbacks of 3+3 m can make detached order infeasible below ~11–12 m of width.
- Sloped parcels: height reference points change; the rear setback tied to H moves with them.
Automated in RONCHAMP
RONCHAMP applies the setbacks to the real parcel geometry, draws the buildable polygon and generates floor plans inside it — with slope-aware 3D terrain when elevation data exists. Run a study on your parcel.