• Bicycle-oriented development, a promising regional growth strategy

    The Razorback Greenway is already influencing growth in Northwest Arkansas, but this may be only the beginning. Other regions are taking similar steps.
    In Bentonville, Arkansas, I recently witnessed bicycle-oriented development (BOD) in action. The Razorback Greenway is a 40-mile multi-use trail, mostly completed in 2015, that connects all of the major cities in the region. At first, the Greenway was just a recreational trail. Then it morphed into...Read more

  • Playa Vista: High density, happy residents

    A quarter century after the iconic Los Angeles development was launched, a community survey shows high levels of resident satisfaction.
    Playa Vista in Los Angeles was one of the most ambitious and artistically stunning early New Urbanist plans, designed in a 1989 charrette by two of the movement's founding firms. A major developer, Maguire Thomas Partners, called DPZ CoDesign, led by a young Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk...Read more

  • A vision of housing, public space for Baltimore

    Madison Crescent shows how infill development can offer housing solutions in historic cities. A University of Maryland, College Park design team won a Student Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the 2026 CNU Charter Awards.
    Madison Crescent proposes a new use for a six-acre infill parcel in Baltimore that currently includes a former elementary school and community building slated for demolition. It shows how infill development in historic cities can create high-quality public space and unite diverse neighborhoods...Read more

  • Adaptive reuse of extraordinary impact

    The 1907 Block in Rogers, Arkansas, catalyzed the redevelopment of downtown and established the city as a culinary hub. High Street Real Estate & Development won a 2026 CNU Charter Award in The Block, Street, and Building category.
    The 1907 Block is embedded in a vibrant downtown, the revitalization of which it helped to launch. The developers saved a historically important but dilapidated building in Rogers, Arkansas, and constructed two new, context-appropriate residential buildings. With three James Beard Foundation...Read more