Kalamazoo has allocated $480,000 to build three cottages from its catalog of pre-approved plans. The Michigan city will build the 864 sq. ft. single houses on infill land owned by the Kalamazoo County Land Bank. Construction is expected to begin in...

Some noteworthy projects show how skilled architects and urban designers are tackling mixed-use, civic, housing, and infrastructure challenges around the US.

Construction along the future Purple Line creates a dense, mixed-use urban center—providing residents with options besides driving in the congested Maryland suburbs.

An American urban planner who was influential in the design of mixed-income neighborhoods enumerates the qualities of public spaces that feel safe and secure.

Eastdale Village in Poughkeepsie crosses a US highway with a four-block Main Street, drawing visitors with a strong sense of place.

The federal government offers a resource of 27 options, building on the recommendations of CNU.

Speck and Lombard outline the best research on how the built environment and health in CNU’s On the Park Bench.

An economically promising pre-fab dwelling, built from solid timber, was displayed on the National Mall this summer. An untrained crew put the accessory dwelling together in a few days.

This holiday, experience the magic of a city or town. Let that become part of your family experience. It may change your life.

A design for a North Carolina Habitat for Humanity chapter fits a range of infill locations with standardized production.

A new study shows that demolishing a second freeway spur in downtown Milwaukee could provide housing for 4,200 people and $1.1 billion in property value.

The fast-growing Indianapolis suburb had the gumption to reform its suburban street network—a rare achievement that should get more attention.

A ‘missing middle’ design creatively maximizes space to provide an affordable workforce option in Beaufort and beyond.

The Village of Providence shows how you can create a strong place out of nowhere in two decades.

A transit-oriented development between three streetcar suburbs in Prince George’s County, a few miles from DC, demonstrates key elements of mixed-use, good public spaces, and connectivity.

A development plan in Edmond, Oklahoma, has 10-foot-wide townhouses and a mix of small commercial and residential buildings to create intimate urban spaces on the edge of downtown.

Adaptive reuse of horse and mule barns in Fort Worth makes for a unique mixed-use development.

Law professor Michael Lewyn has written a comprehensive and readable analysis of the complete streets movement, why it has failed to transform America’s streets, and what can be done.

A new report highlights how planners can help households reduce cost of living through policies that boost low-cost modes of mobility.

A tiny village of affordable cottages has just been built in Asheville, and the timing is fortuitous. That region desperately needs emergency housing that could also last and contribute to long-term sustainability.

New urbanists are working in devastated areas in North Carolina, helping to set up the kernels of community rebuilding.

The plan for the Scajaquada Expressway would help bridge the divide in the central part of Buffalo, New York, bringing back the glories of an Olmsted-designed greenway.

The Chapman Stables housing in DC shows how sites can evolve radically, while the street-facing facade remains.

Viewers can watch Cycling Without Age and other prize-winning urban films online, October 22-30.

Townhouses facing courtyards that are perpendicular to the street improve the quality of life for this building type.

Christopher Leinberger and Rebecca Rockey explain the historic opportunity to rebalance the real estate in urban centers.

While missing middle housing is often touted as an answer to rising housing prices, a Virginia court struck down a statute in Arlington, Virginia in late September. A group of property owners sued Arlington County (effectively a satellite city to...

Kalamazoo represents our nationwide housing problem, but the City also has a four-part strategy to create more units that add to neighborhoods and affordability.

The citywide legislation tailors missing middle options to different neighborhoods, and a sliding scale floor-area ratio (FAR) supports more attainable building types.

Rancho Cucamonga is implementing urbanism on arterial roads and suburban commercial areas. This plan is intended to lead the way to density and mixed-use in a suburban city in Southern California.

Misconceptions of density sometimes fuel opposition, but a low-rise single-family and missing middle housing mix can achieve 15 units per acre.

Two handsome four-story buildings are on the final lots to be built in Glenwood Park, a Charter Award-winning neighborhood in Atlanta.

There's been much discussion of creating what the late Ray Oldenburg called “third places,” why they are vanishing, and how they are linchpins of neighborhoods and social interaction. Neighborhood Lab, based in Copenhagen, created a graphic...

Walkable places are critical to cities and the national economy and here’s a formula to get them back on track.

This graph shows why housing is getting so expensive. Annual housing production in the US plummeted in the 2010s, with annual single-family construction just over half of what it was in the 2000s, according to a report Top Cities for Real Estate...

Planning an acupunctural approach to repairing a sprawling plan from the 1950s, using urbanism principles.

Nature Cities journal has created an interactive online database showing 15-minute walking and biking access in cities worldwide.

An eight-acre site in New Haven, Connecticut, offers the chance to repair damage by 20th Century urban planning.

Graduate student housing in Ithaca, New York, employs climate-friendly urbanism while meeting aggressive greenhouse gas reduction goals.

Artspace demonstrates the diversity of strategies for addressing America’s affordable housing problems. In some cases, they are the lynchpin of downtown revival.

Jersey City is showing how to rapidly transform public space to serve a wide range of users, contributing to its reputation as a livable city.

Nationally recognized Culdesac Tempe is living up to its hype—the question is to what extent cities will get out of the way to allow this to happen elsewhere.

Founded on a solid design framework, the North Downtown Athens plan extends the city's heart with mixed-use, walkable, affordable development.

Urbanists must use the fundamentals of construction to build affordably in an age of soaring housing costs and interest rates and avoid “cheap-washing.”

Like a periodic table of urbanism, the Sustainable Urban Design Framework provides a comprehensive view of the relationships between policies and urban forms at all scales. The framework is the basis for a new Sustainable Urban Design Handbook.

Prototypes of small, private, dignified housing with access to transportation and services address a growing homeless problem in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

There is no silver bullet to building an affordable house—you must save money in most construction areas, while good taste compensates for a lack of luxuries. The book Building an Affordable House will get you started.

Camp Washington, a neighborhood in Cincinnati, has tremendous potential to grow. Planners offer a blueprint for walkable development, focusing on public realm improvements like a two-step process for intersection repair.

Nicely proportioned Bergen Square in Jersey City received a road diet, new public space, traffic calming and other upgrades.

Pike and Rose is a new transit-oriented downtown in Montgomery County, Maryland, with a botanical public realm.

Small-scale mixed-use buildings are popular in Norton Commons, a new urbanist community in Louisville; here’s the latest example.

A new urban approach yields economic benefits for small cities and towns like Phoenixville.

Officials should consider the connections that were in place before the highway when planning to remove a mile-long Detroit Interstate in lieu of a surface street.

Groveland, Florida, has adopted a Dark Sky Lighting ordinance that preserves views of the Milky Way, saves energy, and enhances streetscapes.

Norman, Oklahoma, has devised one of the most efficient ways to reduce parking requirements and stimulate incremental development.

Reports from Legacy Projects highlight the potential of Norwood, Xenia, Amelia, and Camp Washington, Ohio.

Creative, multipurpose spaces are the answer to dying third places, according to two experts on CNU's On the Park Bench.

Redeveloping commercial corridors, using policies like AB 2011 in California, enables new housing at a scale big enough to eliminate the housing shortage in the US without displacement, argues a CNU founder.

The semi-annual Dangerous by Design identifies the most dangerous regions and deadly modern thoroughfares, designed so that too many people die in the prime of life.

River City Rising shows how Spokane draws on its streetcar neighborhood origins to address its current housing problems.

Wes Marshall’s new book, Killed by a Traffic Engineer, reveals the profession’s shaky, unscientific foundations—and points the way to safer, healthier streets.

Bulevar de Oriente converts a former sewage way into an exceedingly elegant linear park and a model for global green corridors. Alcuadrado Arquitectos SAS + Secretaria de Vivienda social y hábitat won the 2024 CNU Grand Prize Charter Award.

Revitalization of St. Patrick's and St. Hedwig's Parishes envisions a European-like village between churches in South Bend. The University of Notre Dame won a 2024 CNU Student Grand Prize Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category.

Winthrop Family Historical Garden redesigns an underutilized green space as a beautiful garden and public gathering spot in Chicago, Illinois. MKSK won a 2024 CNU Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category.

On May 15, new urbanists will gather in Cincinnati for CNU 32—with the chance to check out the city’s abundant urbanism for a few days. Unlike cities like Charlotte that have built a lot of New Urbanism in the suburbs, Cincinnati is all about infill...

Kingston Forward takes the art and communication of a form-based code to a new level in a historic New York State city. Dover, Kohl & Partners won a 2024 CNU Charter Award in The Region: Metropolis, City, and Town category.

Just Imagine SWLA is a long-term resilience plan for Calcasieu and Cameron parishes in Louisiana. The Community Foundation Southwest Louisiana and Urban Design Associates won a 2024 CNU Charter Award in The Region: Metropolis, City, and Town category.

Brookline High School Expansion knits the urban fabric with public school buildings that enhance the public realm in Brookline, Massachusetts. William Rawn Associates won a 2024 CNU Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category.

Veridian at County Farm is a compact neighborhood model of sustainability and affordability in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Union Studio and THRIVE Collaborative won a Merit Award as an Emerging Project in the 2024 CNU Charter Awards.

Trappey and Bayou Vermilion Waterfront District Vision Plan will revitalize a waterfront and reuse a vacant industrial site in Lafayette, Louisiana. Lake|Flato Architects won a Merit Award for an Emerging Project in the 2024 CNU Charter Awards.

Smart Streets Design Plan creates a model for better streetscapes and mobility. Buffalo’s Office of Strategic Planning and Stantec won a Merit Award for Emerging Projects in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the 2024 CNU Charter Awards.

RiverFront Revitalization connects Omaha to the Missouri River and creates a widely used public space. HDR and OJB won a Merit Award in the Region: Metropolis, City, and Town category of the 2024 CNU Charter Awards.

Rebuilding Tremont Street in Mission Hill is a collection of buildings that enhance a neighborhood in Boston. New Urban Partners and Principle Group won a Merit Award in the Block, Street, and Building category of the 2024 CNU Charter Awards.

Finley Street Cottages is a courtyard development on two Atlanta lots that offers an innovative model for missing middle housing. Kronberg Urbanists + Architects won a Merit Award in the Block, Street, and Building category in the 2024 CNU Charter Awards.

The Eddy Street Neighborhood is a mixed-use infill development in South Bend featuring a main street and many housing types. Looney Ricks Kiss won a Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the 2024 CNU Charter Awards.

Casa de Luz is a community-driven, health-oriented urban village on the site of a former meatpacking plant in Austin, Texas. Shambala Corp. won a Merit Award in the Block, Street, and Building category in the 2024 CNU Charter Awards.

Back to Better is a series of interventions planned for the Near Northwest in South Bend, Indiana. Students at the University of Notre Dame won a Student Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the 2024 CNU Charter Awards.

The Ohio River city leveraged two stadiums and a highway reconstruction to build a new waterfront neighborhood, guided by a 1990s plan.

In a former village with little or no walkability, where the main road resists change, planners envision a walking path linking public spaces, one of which would be a new central square.

Westlawn Gardens in Milwaukee is a case study in how to address the three main affordability components: Affordable to build, to rent or own, and to live in. All three strategies are critical.

A report on a workshop in Charlotte shows how Christopher Alexander’s pattern language can be expanded to improve communities.

Adding sensitivity to courage, intelligence, and vitality is a recipe for an equitable land-use plan, according to The Equity Planner.

‘Foundational courses’ will cover walkability, health, suburban retrofit, street design, Tactical Urbanism, tree canopies, land-use regulations, building types, and more.

The Xenia Hub District plan aims to rebuild a neighborhood around a multi-use trail hub near downtown.

From toilet plungers for bike lanes to community gardens on vacant lots to locally sourced incremental development, citizens are finding creative ways to make urban space while bypassing traditional bureaucratic systems.

The Cincinnati neighborhood of Camp Washington has a remarkable capacity for economic development, but the challenge is to manage growth without losing the unique mix of buildings, uses, and people.

Design changes to the center of Kentlands, the influential traditional neighborhood development, show the potential for urbanism to improve as it ages.

CNU’s Legacy Project in Norwood, Ohio, examines strategies for connecting neighbors, neighborhoods, and the city as a whole to the larger region.

The Community Grid proposal takes a broad planning approach to seven neighborhoods, districts, and corridors that could be changed and redeveloped following the demolition of the I-81 viaduct that has long overshadowed the city center.

A YouTube influencer takes for a tour of Culdesac Tempe, one of the more interesting new developments today.

How transit and land-use work together to break down the walls around our lives and expand human freedom.

The demolition and replacement of Syracuse’s I-81 viaduct with a “community grid” cleared a key legal hurdle, as a New York State court unanimously overturned a lower court ruling blocking the project.   The February 9 decision apparently opens the...

A century after devastating destruction of Greenwood, the city supports a community-driven plan to redevelop publicly owned sites in and near the neighborhood.

Pre-approved building plans can address the housing crisis by reducing regulatory friction around high-quality residential designs that fit a community’s vernacular.

CNU has endorsed the Housing Supply and Affordability Act, introduced in the US House and Senate last week.  The bill is sponsored by Representatives Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), and Senators Amy...

This year’s Seaside Prize winners, Joseph Kohl and Victor Dover, discuss how street design is Victor's main issue and Joe will never put down his pen.

CNU practitioners are invited to participate in a design charrette to help war-damaged Ukrainian communities. Team 11, a Congress for the New Urbanism member-led initiative, is working with the nonprofit Neo-Eco Ukraine on a pilot project to replan...

State infrastructure funding and an urban renewal designation are overcoming the challenges of a failed mall transformation in Western New York.

Built around a 150-year-old railroad depot, Greer suffered from motor-vehicle-age changes; a streetscape project has made downtown a destination.

Wealthy tech investors are behind California Forever, one of the most ambitious greenfield plans in a century—for a mixed-use city of 400,000 on 29 square miles in Solano County.

The Ember in Edmond, Oklahoma, is designed so that all neighbors will feel part of the whole via a central gathering space.

A brief film biography of Fred Kent offers insight into placemaking, and why it is essential.

Towns and cities used to grow by extending their street grids. Sprawl makes it harder, but many opportunities still exist. Why don’t we have more of this kind of development?

Speck Dempsey is a partnership between walkability guru Jeff Speck and mobility expert Chris Dempsey.

The Netherlands is one of the happiest places on Earth. This video by Active Towns founder John Simmerman gives a reason why.  On the last day of a visit, Simmerman recorded a typical morning commute in Delft, a historic city of just over 100,000...

As the problem of loneliness grows, urbanists and planners may successfully design for social interaction in three broad ways.

A sold-out concert by soul music legend Gladys Knight opened a new 2-acre park in Douglasville, Georgia, recently—that’s a good sign for the multipurpose public space in the county seat 30 miles west of Atlanta. Douglasville is another example of a...

The following features of walkable communities were presented this week by Wade Walker, a transportation engineer with Kittelson & Associates. This is a great list, although not definitive; other lists of 10 could be made. Here's Walker’s list,...

Lake Wales, Florida, has adopted a plan that puts active mobility at the heart of day-to-day life.

An American Society of Civil Engineers survey shows the challenges to creating more walkable streets, yet the way forward is to enable more context-based design.

International Making Cities Livable is calling for abstracts for two 2024 conferences—one in Newport, Rhode Island, and the other in Cortona, Italy.

A missing middle development includes a cottage court, mixed-use building, street-fronting cottages, and an accessory dwelling on a narrow parcel near downtown Thunderbolt, Georgia.

A plan is moving forward in Belmont, North Carolina—one of the first communities to adopt a form-based code—that would double the size of the downtown and extend the street grid.

The Wheeler District, an airport redevelopment in Oklahoma City, offers many urban housing types including “shophomes”—mixed-use townhouses like traditional main street dwellings.

A Fayetteville, Arkansas, designer has created a stock plan that works for a wide range of missing middle types, including townhouses, duplexes, cottages, ADUs, and even a pair of fourplexes.

A 1.3-mile suburban arterial was quickly modified to take space from automobile travel and give it to transit, biking, and walking.

Older Americans are the most vulnerable population in a natural disaster and provide the key to making communities more resilient for everyone, argues Danielle Arigoni, author of Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation.

A new town in Alabama is a model for how community planning and institutions can connect people.

A study looks at hierarchical and interconnected street networks, concluding that you can't have effective mixed-use without street grids, which provide many benefits.

A new urban development is underway in Norman, Oklahoma, with a philosophy that can be compared to the award-winning Serenbe, in Georgia. Selah, a name derived from a Hebrew blessing, focuses on sustainability, agrarian urbanism, and community...

Railyard Park in Rogers is the central public space the city has always lacked—providing a place for diverse activities and people, connected to a regional trail network.

First+Main Films and the Better Cities Film Festival are telling civic stories across America in film, with the goal of changing cities. It shows the power of storytelling in urbanism.

A new urbanist development named after a literary hometown focuses on the arts and much-needed public space.

South Carolina development offers convincing lessons for how builders, developers, and architects can create a successful new town.

Urban designers and architects are astounded by a charming, small, mid-block development in Charleston that is 2-4 stories tall yet is comparable to the gross density of Manhattan.

A nationwide study of more than 1,000 street sections sides with urbanists and planners in the long-standing battle with traffic engineers over the benefits of narrow travel lanes in urban places.

Three landmark developments since the 1980s have transformed the city's relationship to the water.

A majority African-American city in southern Georgia is redeveloping with the help of a Transect-based, walkable urban plan.

New urbanists can be encouraged by the popularity of Blue Zone research and learn from the many place-based factors to longevity, including walkability, social institutions, and local diet—which can be included in plans to boost quality of life.

The author of Fragile Neighborhoods urges urban planners to take on a vital domestic challenge: Help restore the social function of neighborhoods.

An Olmsted-inspired plan for Lake Wales, Florida, would revitalize the core, promote new growth in walkable neighborhoods, and preserve green space around the town.

The Finley Street Cottages in Atlanta show how attainable housing can be built without subsidy, enabled by incremental zoning reform.

In the early 1980s, a young architect, Dhiru Thadani, saw a lecture by another young architect, Andres Duany, who was designing a new town called Seaside with his wife and partner, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. Duany explained how the elements of cities...

In a recent On the Park Bench webinar, CNU board member and former New York City Parks Commissioner Mitch Silver discussed the harm inflicted on black communities by the planning profession. He made the case for planners to mitigate inequities of...

Revisiting the 25 Great Ideas of the New Urbanism shows how the movement and world have changed in the last half decade.

Jeff Speck updates his book, Walkable City, covering significant trends now and over the last decade.

Team 11, named after a UN sustainable development goal, wants CNU members to have a more significant impact worldwide to address climate change and other issues. The group is looking to sponsor a pilot project in Ukraine.

CNU is launching a formal process to amend the Charter of the New Urbanism, it was announced in an On the Park Bench webinar. The CNU board will accept proposals for amending the Charter in October and November, 2023.  Any CNU member can propose an...

It’s no secret that large numbers of US malls are in deep trouble, having lost anchor tenants, and many of them are in foreclosure. In his 10th Anniversary edition of Walkable City, Jeff Speck reports that “Fully a quarter of US malls aren’t...

A bold vision of Agricultural Urbanism is now taking shape in British Columbia, 15 years after it was planned at the peak of the Great Recession.

Art focused on people in a community can provide a bridge between them and the built environment, activating public space.

Adaptive reuse of building ensemble in Providence, Rhode Island, restores significant mixed-use structures, improves public space, and provides contextual architecture in a historic downtown.

Porches and sidewalks are often ignored or dismissed, but they have important roles in building community.

A new transit-oriented development in Utah is planned with the density and amenities of a big city downtown.

New York State DOT is moving forward with replacing the I-81 viaduct, which has divided the Upstate city for six decades, with a grid of streets. But the design will determine whether this is a human-scale community grid or marred by a suburban arterial.

These five design and implementation ideas could be repeated in many locations to create more equitable and sustainable, socially and economically robust corridors.

The Proscenium is a key part of one of the largest, coordinated, suburban retrofit endeavors anywhere in the US.

The South Carolina city is pushing back against the US Army Corps of Engineers, who propose a perimeter wall to defend against storm surge. Charleston envisions a levy and range of public spaces in a Civic Design Opportunities Report.

Experts discuss hospital-oriented development and its dramatic potential to transform cities big and small.

I recently spoke on a panel discussing the 15-minute city, and the cool graphic above was presented showing a hierarchy of mixed-use centers throughout the City of Portland, Oregon. This kind of analysis would help many cities plan to achieve an...

Doral, known for a golf course and sprawl, has partnered with a developer to create a walkable downtown on the site of a former nondescript office park, reusing existing infrastructure.

A mixed-use plan for a Central Florida blueberry farm seeks to build a sense of place around agricultural production, using Seaside as an urban design model.

The Planetizen list of top all-time urbanists confirms the outsized influence of new urbanist ideas among planners at the moment.

CNU is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2023—a generation after the organization founders met in Alexandria, Virginia, and began to outline a new philosophy of city building.  Writing the Charter of the New Urbanism required three years and...

If context-based street design works in the most automobile-dominated state, it can make a difference anywhere.

The outcome of two decades of planning and implementation, Eddy Street is one of the more impressive new urban neighborhoods built adjacent to a university.

Submit ideas by July 31 for cash grants for innovative, catalytic urban projects on any scale.

University of Miami Professor Joanna Lombard lists the elements of healthy communities—and reports how the built environment may lead to physical and mental wellness through social interaction, physical activity, and connection to nature.

In the Capitol East District, the City of Madison has created a model for redeveloping a commercial strip highway.

Motivated by concerns over housing affordability and climate change, big cities and small towns are eliminating parking requirements. The reform has just begun—especially in the suburbs.

Every city has commercial strip corridors, but there are proven strategies for rebuilding them as places for people.

The show covers urbanism trends like why America is experiencing a dramatic rise in pedestrian deaths, while Europe is not.

Missing Middle Housing types are key to affordability, but parking (and zoning that requires off-street parking) impacts the cost. This analysis by Dan Parolek of Opticos Design, author of Missing Middle Housing, shows that fourplexes—one missing...

Note: CNU and Public Square are closed the week of June 5, following a successful CNU 31 in Charlotte. Too often affordable housing looks like affordable housing, with mediocre-to-poor materials and details on the outside. In and around Providence...

Albany Skyway in Albany, New York, reclaims an "ugly chunk of highway" to reconnect downtown with the Hudson riverfront via a new linear park. Stantec Consulting Services won a CNU 2023 Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category.

Pullman Artspace Lofts in Chicago, Illinois, provide affordable housing in live-work spaces for artists in an underserved community. Stantec Architecture Inc. won a CNU 2023 Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category.

Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is a civic tribute to slaves who laid the foundations of one of America’s oldest colleges. Baskervill won a CNU 2023 Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category.

New Urbanism has a long history in Charlotte. Attendees of CNU 31 can check out its impact next week.

ReLeaf Cedar Rapids is a plan to restore the Iowa city’s decimated tree canopy, with a focus on equity and placemaking. Speck & Associates and Confluence won a CNU 2023 Charter Award in the Region: Metropolis, City, and Town category.

Larkin Place in Elgin, Illinois, is the adaptive reuse of a historic orphanage, on a block with affordable missing middle housing. Full Circle Development and Cordogan Clark won a CNU 2023 Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category.

The Higher Ground Initiative in Nauru is a plan for a Pacific island nation that is threatened by sea level rise. Metrocology and CIVIC/URBAN won a Merit Award in The Region: Metropolis, City, and Town category of the 2023 Charter Awards.

Willkommen Urban Infill in Cincinnati, Ohio, is a scattered-site revitalization of a historic area, focusing on affordable housing. Model Group, 3CDC, and GBBN won a Merit Award in the Block, Street, and Building category of the CNU 2023 Charter Awards.

CNU and affiliated designers work with a community to identify implementation solutions for a disinvested urban corridor west of Charlotte’s Center City.

WeCollab is a community led initiative to revitalize adjacent neighborhoods in St. Louis, Missouri. YARD & Company won a Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the CNU 2023 Charter Awards.

May 4 is the anniversary of two important historical events, both taking place on the East Coast of the US, eighty years apart, that have helped shape modern planning and urbanism for the better around the world. Only the first occurrence is widely...

SCLT Headquarters is an adaptive building reuse and urban plan for a working-class area in Providence, RI. Union Studio Architecture & Community Design won a Merit Award in the Block, Street, and Building category of the CNU 2023 Charter Awards.

How places from Seligman, Arizona, to Buffalo, New York, have become aware of their history and charms—including planning and design—to turn urban failure into success.

Hammond Downtown Master Plan has enabled the Northwest Indiana city to kick start its downtown revival. Speck & Associates and Stantec’s Urban Places won a Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the CNU 2023 Charter Awards.

A beautifully illustrated article on the Placemakers website offers ideas on compact living, based on case studies of “missing middle” housing types in a village in Wales. Author Susan Henderson, an urban designer and coding expert who is based in...

Downtown Westminster in Westminster, Colorado, is the redevelopment of a former mall into a walkable center, led by the city. Torti Gallas + Partners won a Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the 2023 CNU Charter Awards.

Goha Sefer—The New Urban Quarter in Gondar, Ethiopia, is a 50-acre neighborhood plan in the historic African city. Metaya Tilahun of Notre Dame won a Student Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of CNU's 2023 Charter Awards.

Thamesmead Expansion is a series of proposals for a large, transit-oriented site in London. Students at UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design won a Student Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the 2023 Charter Awards.

Designers of Culdesac developments in Tempe and Atlanta report progress in creating a built environment for shared mobility, as the first residents move in to the Arizona project.

A team of new urbanists design for a neighborhood in the crosshairs of gentrification, adding healthy food and affordable housing.

CNU and affiliated designers visited a sprawling part of Charlotte to plan the transition of a 16-acre shopping center into a mixed-use center, with connections to a major university—UNCC. Temporary public space drives suburban retrofit.

When you go to Charlotte, North Carolina, you are likely to wind up in the South End, a funky mix of new buildings and converted warehouse and industrial sites a mile or two south of Uptown, the city’s central business district. The area is noted...

Many kinds of urban corridors have great potential to transform cities, if the design is good.

Parking reform is gaining substantial momentum even in recent months—a policy development that will impact missing middle housing production, reuse of old buildings, and vehicle miles traveled, experts say.

Florida’s first predominantly African-American suburb has been out of the economic mainstream for six decades. A downtown plan that focuses on New Urbanism, affordable housing, and minority business development maps out a better future.

I love this photo, from urbanist and author Michael Mehaffy, who posted it on his Facebook page. No moving car is visible in this commute shot of the most populous city of the Netherlands (in the winter, no less), but plenty of bicyclists and...

Cities and states offer incentives for developers to convert offices to living spaces, which could have a profound impact on downtowns, employment districts, and office parks.

On the Park Bench explores mixed-use, neighborhood-scale development projects for faith communities in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Pike Road, Alabama.

A growing number of cities and states are reforming their parking regulations, and Donald Shoup, this year’s winner of the Seaside Prize, deserves considerable credit.

The 15-minute city has nothing to do with restricting freedom—it's about restoring freedom.

Reconnecting Communities grants represent a step toward a larger effort to undo the considerable damage from 20th Century transportation planning, aligning with CNU's Freeways Without Futures.

On the Park Bench experts reveal how to overcome barriers to healthy, thriving cities in America’s heartland.

Influential urbanist, architect, academic, and early proponent of transit-oriented development (TOD) Douglas Kelbaugh died February 18 at the age of 78. Kelbaugh was professor and dean emeritus of the architecture and urban and regional planning at...

A house plan catalog is designed to expedite construction of compact housing that fits the neighborhood context throughout the city.

Planner and author Jeff Speck argues that efforts to make our streets and roadways safer will fail unless the traffic engineering profession reforms its design practices.

Plan would open up the New Jersey capital's riverfront and offer economic, social, and environmental benefits.

An analysis by SOM argues that the suburbs are urbanizing as a result of shifting markets and people moving out of cities in the Bay Area of California. The firm examined what it called the “20-minute suburb,” based on the 15-minute city idea, to...

Seabrook, Washington, is the first full-scale beach town built according to the principles of New Urbanism on the West Coast. Founded in 2004, Seabrook is sited on a bluff that offers tremendous ocean views and protects against sea level rise. ...

The latest Foot Traffic Ahead report benchmarks walkable urbanism across the US, demonstrates pent-up demand for walkability and its outsized economic impact, and ranks metro areas according to this characteristic.

A theoretical framework based on walking and bicycling sheds makes the 15-minute city more useful to cities and planners.

Those who think “15-minute cities” are for wealthy urbanites should consider this graph from a recent nationwide study. It shows a powerful reverse correlation between household income and use of services and amenities within a 15-minute walk of...

Even a city that is getting better makes mistakes, such as a massive concrete wall around a development in a city where population and urbanism are growing.

The US National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization lays out goals for practitioners of New Urbanism and smart growth “to increase convenience and reduce emissions by making it possible for people to take fewer or shorter trips.”

Good design is a low priority for houses made in a factory, but some architects and developers are trying to change the industry with a simple cottage that features a nicely detailed porch and roof lines.

AARP, an interest group representing older Americans that claims 38 million members, has increasingly become involved in housing issues (including ongoing work with CNU on code reform). In between sending me direct mail for many years, AARP has...

A viral Tweet highlights a village type that would be useful to analyze and replicate, and also touched a nerve.

Parishioners of a historic church in Detroit want to develop eight vacant blocks with missing middle housing to build a church-centered community.

The top articles for 2022 have a lot to say about the world of city building and where we are headed for the new year.

The 10th Anniversary Edition of Speck’s popular city planning treatise highlights the still-raging war over walkability and streets designed for cars.

The unique Colorado mountain community has had its difficulties, including an attack from an online magazine, but the latest recognition highlights how much the designers and developers have gotten right.

Too often, the “15-minute city” is just a slogan. A better understanding of the 15-minute city, with its walking and bicycling sheds, is critical to achieving the benefits of placing human access at the heart of community planning.

To find hidden culture and history, you must do what most Americans rarely do — travel the old thoroughfares and see towns that were bypassed by the Interstate system. For example, take Route 20 in New York State.

In late November CNU’s board hired Mallory Baches as the new President, to co-lead with new Executive Director Margaret Gattis. Mallory recently discussed CNU’s urgent mission.

Zoning rarely gets discussed as directly related to health, but communities that have reformed their codes see health benefits, from reduced rates of cancer to greater physical activity—which in turn lowers disease and improves mental health.

A US Forest Service study indicates that street trees save lives and provide direct health benefits that far outweigh the costs of planting and maintenance.

For much of the last six or seven decades, we’ve seen limited housing options in suburbia—generally single-family housing for sale, or apartment complexes with units for rent. In Gainesville, Florida, a South Carolina developer is offering a...

The terminus of I-16 cuts into the historic core of Savannah, and removal of a flyover would help to heal the wounds of 1960s destruction in a minority and immigrant neighborhood.

The entertainment giant has donated land to create affordable housing, and the chosen developer has envisioned a new urbanist neighborhood.

The benefits to good urbanism of finer grain building and development are well known, according to Brian Falk of the Project for Lean Urbanism. Now there are a suite of tools to help make that happen, including Pink Zones and “house hacking.”  Falk...

For those who seek affordable, diverse urbanism in a community that needs committed residents, smaller, working-class cities have much to offer. Here's one in particular with 21st Century potential.

A longitudinal study found a 53 percent increase in new urbanist type zoning in the US during the previous decade, and support for infrastructure that boosts physical activity, and ultimately, health.

Korkut Onaran, author of Urbanism for a Difficult Future, has developed community planning ideas around self-sufficient places that rely on local technology.

Electric powered bicycles may or may not be cool, but they expand access to the daily and weekly necessities of life while avoiding the many costs of driving.

Quiet, intimate urban places in the center of blocks may be built if land-use regulations allow.

A national developer who is subordinating automobiles has proposed a significant mixed-use community along the Beltline in Atlanta.

Will street designers and public officials take notice of shared, flexible Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach, which contributes to both transportation and placemaking?

Note: Public Square editor Robert Steuteville is on leave, and will return at the end of October. The 2023 winner of the Seaside Prize will be UCLA Urban Planning Professor Donald Shoup, who has led an international movement against off-street...

As its name suggest, Golden, Colorado, began as a gold rush town, but it’s biggest economic driver in the 20th Century was the golden liquid of Coors beer and Coors-related operations. The Coors family started the Coors Brewing Co. (now Molson Coors...

A levee, with promenade, would connect Norfolk’s citizens to the waterfront and protect against rising seas. The city is developing a comprehensive vision for how to “thrive” with climate change.

The term “Missing Middle Housing” has become a popular reference to middle-density, low-rise housing that has been missing from most new construction over the past half century. Examples include accessory dwelling units (ADUs), cottage courts,...

The first Gindroz Award is named in honor CNU’s former board chair, a pioneer in applying new urban principles to social housing.

Creating intimate spaces within blocks could be the answer for some underutilized house of worship sites—as shown by a plan for catholic churches in a midwestern city.

Charles III, who ascended to the throne of the United Kingdom late last week, may be the only world leader who has personally built a successful mixed-use, walkable town.

In the City of South Bend, getting rid of absurdly failed highway infrastructure may be the key to revitalizing a district. The federal government is betting $2.4 million on it.

The opportunities are vast to create human-scale places on the inside of urban blocks, according to a discussion on CNU's On the Park Bench.

A video of construction shows the public spaces taking shape at the innovative Culdesac Tempe, in Arizona. Designer: “Car-free is the future of New Urbanism.”

Generous public space amenities, including a square and wide sidewalks with trees, are key to transit-oriented suburban retrofit on Route 1 in South Florida.

Traditional neighborhood developments at the Alabama state capital took sharply different turns after the Great Recession.

Nolan Gray joins CNU's On the Park Bench for a discussion of zoning, its history and problems, and what to do about it.

Conventional suburbs are cities that have grown obese. We need processes for reusing their worn-out parts and creating something of higher value.

Dhiru A. Thadani has produced an illustrative book that is full of insights into the people, places, history, and urbanism of our nation’s capital.

Often, in the 20th Century, the courthouse square structure was damaged by automobile-oriented planning. Recovering what was lost is not easy—it’s a process of strategic elimination and addition to repair the form that is hidden while the town grows.

The New York Times recently reported on Buffalo’s “other story,” an unexpected and dramatic increase in population in the last decade, the first time this had happened in 70 years. The “other story” in the Times headline is a reference to the...

Indianapolis has reformed its zoning along current and future Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines to support transit-oriented development, aided by a “geoaccounting” analysis, according to a report in Strong Towns. The analysis graphically showed land...

A Downtown Master Plan supports the urban diversity and access that are the goals of the 15-minute city, including affordable housing.

This photo of Jackson Square, New Orleans, was shot with a drone by architect and urban designer Steve Mouzon. A photographer and author of The Original Green, Mouzon has been using a drone for urban photography for the last seven months, and is ...

Building small has advantages in cost, time, ease of approval, ease of entry, and the character of the finished product. Small-scale urbanism has the support of multiple mini-movements, and here are ten ways to do it.

Amid the recent oppressive heat wave, it may be hard to imagine when warmth feels good. But there comes a time when people put on hats and gloves and scarves and engage in outdoor activities to generate body heat, and the contrast with the cold is...

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s home of Westside Atlanta, a nonprofit is partnering with the City and public and private organizations to transform disadvantaged neighborhoods using a new urban design plan.

Frisco, Texas, has been one of the fastest growing cities in the US over the last three decades, going from a small town of 6,000 in 1990 to more than 200,000 today. In the 1990s, when the city north of Dallas began to boom, officials acquired land...

A biography of William Whyte reveals a big thinker with a keen eye for details and a trust of his own observations over dominant planning theories—a trait he shared with collaborator Jane Jacobs.

The City of Las Cruces is planning an "aspirational" Transect-based neighborhood that includes modular housing on a publicly owned site.

In Arbitrary Lines, M. Nolan Gray offers a vision for a post-zoning world—including a productive shift in the planning profession.

Lately I’ve been thinking about major opportunities for urbanism—places where compact, mixed-use development makes the most sense in cities and towns nationwide. Transit-oriented development—building walkable, urban projects near transit stations—is...

A cottage court called the Railroad Cottages shows how abandoned rail lines converted to trails have potential for incremental development.

At a time when the need for zoning reform is gaining intellectual currency and credibility, one of the most important city land-use regulatory changes of recent years has suffered a legal setback. The Minneapolis 2040 plan, which effectively got...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg went to Birmingham, Alabama, Thursday to launch the DOT’s $1 billion Reconnecting Communities program. The start of the city’s Birmingham Xpress, a 10-mile bus rapid transit line that connects 25...

Plan El Paso—a groundbreaking new urban comprehensive plan—has been in place for a decade, and still the Texas city is rolling out implementation plans. The latest is Onward Alameda, the vision to transform a 14-mile-long section of “stroad,”...

New research shows that psychology is important in street design, and drivers proceed with more caution in tight, changing, walkable places where facial expressions of pedestrians are visible.

A report examines the living needs of the millions of people with autism spectrum disorder, and how good building and neighborhood design can help.

There are thousands of stroad sections in the US. Transforming a good number of them is important to to the goal of improving quality of life and mobility in cities and towns.

I love these boardwalks in Carlton Landing, a new town in Oklahoma. The houses face a tiny pedestrian thoroughfare that consists of the boardwalk and rain gardens. The rainwater simply soaks into the ground.  This is the ultimate in Light Imprint ...

In mid-April of 2020, we published an article indicating that as traffic was plummeting, traffic deaths were rising. This counterintuitive claim was not backed by firm numbers at the time, and the world was more focused on deaths from the pandemic...

A New England-style green creates the site for mixed-use and affordable housing at the center of a historic city.

The halting of three in-city freeway expansions highlights a new momentum on reversing the damage of highways through urban areas.

CNU Legacy Projects have addressed widely diverse urban issues, and Beargrass Creek in Louisville is more distinct than most. The 2019 project, led by Gresham Smith, looked at a neglected urban waterway and how its restoration could impact 14...

“Strong culture is as important as walkability, good street frontage, and all of the elements new urbanists always talk about.”

Charles Marohn points the way to reviving cities and towns through reform of the profession that builds the framework for sprawl.

Receiver places, a term coined by urbanists for communities likely to gain migrants as climate problems grow, refers to not just physical places but also a process of preparing for change. “Managed retreat” is a related term, the other side of the...

The 12-foot-wide Blue Line Rail Trail was originally designed to provide emergency access to light rail stations along Charlotte’s Blue Line. “However, since the Blue Line began operating in late 2007, the Rail Trail has been added onto, studied,...

Cape Cod is desperately in need of housing diversity. Combining ‘visual preference’ with ‘missing middle’ housing types could point the way.

Amherst, New York, is a municipality to watch for those who are tracking suburban retrofit—the idea of re-purposing automobile-oriented suburban areas for new uses in the 21st Century. Amherst is the largest suburb in the Buffalo region, and home to...

CNU led visioning sessions sponsored by US DOT in four cities in 2016, representing a landmark recognition of the wrongs committed in the name of in-city highway building.

In just over an hour, Cedar Rapids lost more than half of its trees—the recently adopted plan has lessons for many cities.

Redeveloping the most favorable 10 percent of suburban strip malls in the Boston region would meet a major portion of the area’s housing needs in the next decade, according to a study.

Congestion costs drive highway expansion decisions, but these costs are dwarfed by the impact of automobile crashes. Comparing the two points to a better strategy than widening thoroughfares.

CNU’s Project for Code Reform completed a report for Wisconsin municipalities, Enabling Better Places, building on similar reports for Michigan and Vermont, and one upcoming in New Hampshire.

At CNU 30 in Oklahoma City planner Stephen Goldie presented an idea that has been in the works for several years, building on the rural-to-urban Transect. Goldie calls it the “Periodic Table of Urbanism,” see image at top, because it resembles the...

The recently passed New York State budget allocates major funds to further in-city highway removal in the Upstate cities of Syracuse, Albany, Rochester, and Buffalo. All projects have been highlighted by CNU in recent years. The budget alots $1.1...

Transportation is a major source of household carbon emissions, and these emissions are reduced dramatically as Transect zones become more urban, as shown in this slide, presented by Scott Bernstein at CNU 30 in Oklahoma City in late March. I have...

A group of urbanists has compiled a list of “receiver cities and towns” from across the US, and identified principles for how communities can become more resilient to climate change.

We have been investing in automobiles, at the expense of people, for too long. The story of Oklahoma City indicates that change is possible, because the dialog is shifting.

The smallest scale of the Charter of the New Urbanism is the building, and the smallest building is usually a house. Many of us own one, or would like to own one. But it can also be expensive to purchase a house, pay a mortgage, and also launch a...

Civano New Town is a groundbreaking fusion of New Urbanism and green design that has proven the efficacy of both together. Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists won a 2022 CNU Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category.

Collection 14 takes a surgical approach to infill, building over and around existing main street buildings. Perkins Eastman DC won a 2022 CNU Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category.

Christopher Alexander, a towering figure in architecture and urbanism—one of the biggest influences on the New Urbanism movement—died on Thursday, March 17, after a long illness, it was reported by Michael Mehaffy, a long-time collaborator and...

Beach Town, Las Catalinas creates a rich network of intimate urbanism on a steep site in Costa Rica. Charles Brewer, Douglas Duany, TSW Design, and the Las Catalinas team won a 2022 Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category.

The Evolution of the Civic Realm in Seaside has been part of the ongoing transformation of a classic new urban town to meet current needs. Thadani Architects + Urbanists won a 2022 Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category.

El Punto Neighborhood Revitalization is a comprehensive, large-scale effort to lift up an immigrant enclave in Salem, MA. North Shore Community Development Coalition won a 2022 Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category.

The Borough is a strikingly beautiful group of houses that brings an abandoned, resilient construction technique back to life. Clay Chapman won a Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category of CNU's 2022 Charter Awards.

Church Hill North—Armstrong Renaissance invests in a neglected Richmond neighborhood to “remap the geography of segregation.” Torti Gallas + Partners won a Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of CNU's 2022 Charter Awards.

Project 180 transformed the fabric of Oklahoma City’s downtown. OJB Landscape Architecture and Speck & Associates won a Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of CNU's 2022 Charter Awards.

Re-Envision Albany is a compelling vision to transform an unnecessary freeway into a boulevard with green space and equitable development. Albany Riverfront Collaborative won a Merit Award in the Emerging Project category of CNU's 2022 Charter Awards.

Carlton Landing, a traditional neighborhood development that is its own municipality, is transforming a rural Oklahoma region. DPZ CoDESIGN won a Merit Award in The Region: Metropolis, City, and Town category of CNU's 2022 Charter Awards.

The Blue Line Corridor sets the stage for substantial transit-oriented suburban retrofit in a growing region. HR&A Advisors and Design Collective won a Merit Award in The Region: Metropolis, City, and Town category of CNU's 2022 Charter Awards.

Westside Evolves is a master plan to deal with the 20th Century model of public housing in Chattanooga, Tennessee. EJP Consulting Group won a Merit Award in the Emerging Project category of CNU's 2022 Charter Awards.

West Chester Market Station is a practical and appealing plan for a disused rail stop west of Philadelphia. Notre Dame architecture student Benjamin Shelton won a Student Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category of CNU 2022 Charter Awards

The Port and the City offers hope for a neighborhood in Beirut that is recovering from a major disaster. A University of Miami School of Architecture team won a Student Merit Award in CNU's 2022 Charter Awards.

Add to the list of oxymorons such as “jumbo shrimp,” “deafening silence,” and “military intelligence,” the idea of a “lean comprehensive plan.” In the planning field, a comprehensive plan often takes 30 years to update, and is usually anything but...

It’s a pity that Apple chose a 20th Century model for construction of its headquarters. Our collective attention spans are short in 2022, and Apple’s massive office building landed like a spaceship in the sprawl of Silicon Valley more than four...

This cartoon by Jean Wei for Transportation for America perfectly depicts what happened to so many American downtowns and main streets in the latter half of the 20th Century. Older cities and towns faced many problems at the time, not the least of...

Civano, a new urbanist town in Tucson, Arizona, provides a useful model for how three-dimensional design cuts energy and water use—and also adapts to and mitigates climate change.

Macon, Georgia, has been transformed by the Master Plan for Beall’s Hill, which helped tear down the walls between Mercer University and a disadvantaged neighborhood.

Brad Pitt violated the cardinal architectural rule since Pruitt-Igoe: Do not experiment on the poor. Others, such as Habitat for Humanity and new urbanists, were far more successful in New Orleans.

The diverse Global District is the focus of a tactical event and long-term planning to promote main street character in a sector of strip malls and arterial roads.

In Syracuse, New York, the relocation of I-81 creates opportunity for replacing public housing with a mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhood.

Core cities are losing population to the suburbs, but the 2020s will not repeat the last half of the 20th Century. The suburbs are bound to urbanize.

New Urbanist places sometimes get the reputation of looking like movie sets, especially some of the well-known developments like Celebration (built by Disney), and Seaside, which did serve as a set for the 1998 film The Truman Show (the filmmakers...

A community should determine what kind of community it wants to be, not unelected DOT engineers.

Seattle, which adopted one of the nation’s most progressive accessory dwelling unit (ADU) ordinances for cities, has taken this idea a step further by streamlining plans and designs that work. In late 2019, Seattle approved an ordinance that allows...

A town in Texas is on the leading edge of a trend to bring back the practical, efficient street networks for new development.

The Memphis Medical District is a 2.6-square-mile area that has gained plenty of jobs, but has lost most of its population in the last 50 years. The area has loads of institutional buildings and surface parking lots, and many underutilized blocks....

“Stroad” is a term coined by Strong Towns’ Chuck Marohn to describe the poorly designed commercial streets found in conventional suburban environments across America. These thoroughfares are part street, part road, hence the name stroad, and perform...

Recently the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) created a very simple tool that is long needed: A calculator of “induced demand” in transportation. This is the economic concept that applies when supply increases, price declines, and therefore demand for...

This view of Valletta, Malta, by urbanist Dhiru Thadani, drawn from a peninsula that extends out to in the harbor, doesn’t seem to have changed much in centuries. A photo of the same view, easy to find on the Internet, reveals a few...

Great Lakes communities are prominent examples of what new urbanists often refer to as “receiver cities, towns, and villages.” They can prepare for migration by promoting growth that improves the quality of life of existing inhabitants.

The Jewel Theatre is a 1931 brick building with Deco details on 4th Street of Oklahoma City—the only building left standing on what was once a thriving main street block in a Black business district.  The Jewel Theatre operated from the 1930s ...

Compact development, which contributes to carbon reduction, is also useful for climate adaptation and the building of defensible places.

It’s hard to imagine a highway that damages a city more, and serves a less noble purpose, than Interstate 787 in Albany, New York’s capital. This highway segment does not carry Interstate through traffic—it was built so state workers and legislators...

Thirty years ago, Oklahoma City’s downtown was hurting badly, and the city’s livability and beauty were at a low ebb. A policy called MAPs transformed the city.

A film segment tells the story of an American city, its struggles, and a future revitalized by urban design.

With CNU’s technical help, Evansville adopted a Complete Streets ordinance that includes tight deadlines and metrics so staff can make a difference.

To federal government this week adopted a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill (the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act), which is going to pay for a lot of machines moving dirt over the next few years. To what extent will they make better...

An architect makes the case for little cottages, grouped in a village form, as a way to address homelessness.

Arcata Plaza, laid out along with the town’s first streets in 1850, was first used to load lumber from the sawmill—and has served as the commercial heart of the Northern California town ever since. Arcata Plaza is a square, literally, and the design...

A documentary on Youngstown, Ohio, won top prize at the Better Cities Film Festival in Detroit.

Analyzing how community design can impact various phases of climate change response, both local and global.

New Urbanism has always been about the architecture of community—that phrase was in the subtitle of Peter Katz’s seminal 1994 book that helped launch this movement. The architecture of community has a double meaning—first, it refers to a scale of...

South Hill village in Ithaca, New York, combines walkable greenfield development with suburban retrofit to offer a new model for growth.

An urban design team is working in Ithaca, New York, this week to plan a new village center on a substantial site south of the City, which has been my home for the past 24 years. While Ithaca has benefited from infill New Urbanism in recent years,...

A few days ago, I explained how planting street trees adapts to and mitigates climate change. Trees also bestow health, safety, and economic benefits. In other words: they are a “wonder drug” for cities.  Trees are low tech, and are adored across...

Code reform and light rail, plus a key development, are helping to transform the center of Mesa, Arizona.

Street trees have many benefits, but their climate impact is becoming more important all the time.

The SoHo Broadway plan would greatly increase space for pedestrians and cyclists in the iconic Manhattan neighborhood, and be implemented over the next two decades.

The Climate Planner offers a wealth of experience and advice for planners confronting climate change in community plans.

There is nothing so ubiquitous in the American landscape as suburban commercial strip corridors, typically built in the 20th Century with a variety of single-use buildings, large surface parking lots, buffers, and thoroughfares focused on driving...

Last night I watched the drama Little Pink House, based on the Kelo v. City of New London, Connecticut, eminent domain case that reached the US Supreme Court in 2005. The case centered on the taking of non-blighted houses in the small Connecticut...

Newfield in Martin County, Florida, provides an upland alternative to coastal real estate in Southeast Florida, while preserving the countryside.

The unsung alley has the potential to create an intimate American urbanism, it just needs a little attention from urban designers.

Even a small waterfront site can turn into a social and economic draw for a city or town.

New report aligns with other recent research that form-based codes have not translated to gentrification.

The Golden State’s recent legislation enabling duplexes and small multifamily buildings has important urban design implications for New Urbanism and walkable communities.

The architecture of community will be important in space, because you not only have to keep people alive, but happy and healthy—and you do that through sense of community.

The Wheeler District is shaping up as one of Oklahoma City’s landmark neighborhoods.

This is fourth in a series of articles on the advantages of building human-scale cities and towns.

A ton of people and a well-designed public realm combine in the alchemy of a happy place in LA.

Tech billionaire Marc Lore hired starchitect Bjarke Ingels for a new urban design of a city that would be based upon community ownership of land.

CNU is seeking design teams to lead historically and culturally significant projects in Oklahoma City and Tulsa in advance of CNU 30.

This is third in a series of articles on the advantages of building human-scale cities and towns.

Continuing care retirement communities are a huge industry, planned in the suburban model, often with excess land that could be better utilized in a walkable, mixed-use form.

Main Streets, downtown cores, and neighborhood centers play a vital social role in American communities. The idea of Central Social Districts offers a way for cities to nurture this function to help urban centers thrive.

This is second in a series of articles on the advantages of building human-scale cities and towns.

Main Streets, downtown cores, and neighborhood centers play a vital social role in American communities. The argument for Central Social Districts is that this social role should be nurtured distinctly for urban centers to succeed.

A major shopping mall that influenced 20th Century retail is slated to become a mixed-use urban center after getting key State of Michigan approvals in late July. Designed by Victor Gruen, Northland Center in Southfield, Michigan, predated the...

We shape our cities and then they shape us.

Miami has the greatest potential for meeting 15-minute city goals, followed by San Francisco and Pittsburgh, according the first ranking of 15-minute city characteristics among large US cities.

Hop on the bus, Gus. Make an urban plan, Sam. Read the report, sport, on 50 reasons to love urban places.

Putting observation first, and theory second, helped to move the planning profession toward more beneficial city building techniques in the late 20th Century. It continues to be an important test and correction to theories, even new urbanist ideas.

A development in Edina, a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis, hits a lot of metrics of sustainable planning. Nolan Mains was built on a 2.8-acre site that was previously nearly 100 percent impervious surface—mainly surface parking lots—in a commercial...

US Route 20, the longest road in the nation, travels through many interesting and historic places in New York State. One that you have probably never heard of is Cazenovia, a town of 7,000 people, founded in 1793. Cazenovia is a kind of place that...

A centrally located former golf course becomes a new park of regional importance, through strategic development of a portion of the site.

Form-based codes have significant benefits, the question is whether these benefits are distributed equally.

As Baby Boomers enter the market for retirement communities, they are demanding different models from the typical facilities of today, where the most prominent public feature is often a parking lot behind a gated entry. Some continuing care...

The city used a bad assessment on walkability, and a skyscraper development, as the impetus and means to transform downtown’s public realm, boosting tourism, the economy, and quality of life.

I-494 forms the border between two Minnesota suburbs. A CNU Legacy team created a plan to improve life for economically disadvantaged residents of the area.

Tornagrain in Scotland sets a British example of planning the “15-minute city.” Designed in 2006 and delayed by the 2008 worldwide recession, Tornagrain has been in vertical construction for the last six years near Inverness, the largest city in the...

Orenco Station in Hillsboro, Oregon, is a model for more sustainable suburbs and regions.

Downtown Doral targets families, creates downtown in amorphous suburb, and avoids the blank slate.

Uptown Normal is helping to bring a small downtown back to life, providing an economic boost to a town in Central Illinois.

Groveland, a rapidly developing small city 30 miles west of Orlando, Florida, adopted a plan and code that included the beautiful Transect diagram shown above. The mostly still-rural community, which nearly doubled in population last decade, adopted...

Frisco Square has doubled the size of a historic downtown as the city prepares for regional transit.

Twelve-foot-wide townhouses in Utah? They combine transit-oriented density with homeownership, and buyers can cut costs in multiple ways.

One clear lesson from the pandemic: Experimentation with streets may yield tremendous benefits with less downside than previously thought.

Proximity and human-scale are still vitally important for sustainability, and yet the geography of our lives has gotten bigger. That is why we need the 15-minute city.

The requirements challenged the architect to design a large 8-story building that is harmonious with much smaller scale neighbors.

The redevelopment of the former St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington DC combines historic preservation with affordable housing and opens a large campus to the public realm.

Bicycling is important to the 15-minute city, because it extends the range of human-powered transportation to about three miles in that time frame. This range is especially helpful in getting to work. A recent report by Bike Advisor shows that the...

American Jobs Act (AJA) provisions that would tear down unnecessary in-city freeways have received significant media attention, but the infrastructure bill could also boost transit-oriented development (TOD). That angle has been less emphasized....

Dhiru Thadani drew the above cartoon image on the impact of in-city highways, which is a timely topic this week. On Tuesday, June 1, CNU is set to release its biennial report Freeways Without Futures, offering a list of 15 highways most in need of...

The woonerf is coming of age as a thoroughfare type, allowing streets to take center stage as public spaces.

A recent report by Brookings sums up the challenge for US climate goals: It can’t be done without moving much more decisively to compact, mixed-use, walkable development. To quote from their report: “Simply put, the United States cannot reach its...

The Plant Riverside District in Savannah, Georgia, transformed an abandoned industrial site into the most significant modern expansion of the city’s urban core. Sottile & Sottile and The Kessler Collection won the 2021 CNU Grand Prize Charter Award.

The Paseo Cayalá Neighborhood in Guatemala City is a model of open and economically resilient development in a city of gated development. Estudio Urbano and Leon Krier won a 2021 CNU Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category.

Trilith in Fayetteville, Georgia, is built around the idea that well-designed public space contributes to individual happiness and community well-being. Lew Oliver Inc. won a 2021 CNU Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category.

Hammetts Wharf in Newport, Rhode Island, is an urban asset that protects and connects the city at the water’s edge. Union Studio Architecture & Community Design won a 2021 CNU Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category.

Bonéval in Washington, DC, perfectly fits the historic neighborhood with lovely and durable details. Torti Gallas + Partners won a 2021 CNU Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category.

A quarter century ago, the Charter of the New Urbanism laid out timeless principles that are the bedrock of an influential movement.

Kirkpatrick Park in Nashville, Tennessee, is a catalyst for mixed-income, public housing transformation, designed around a “woonerf.” Smith Gee Studio won a 2021 CNU Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category.

Memphis 3.0 Comprehensive Plan is reversing late 20th Century growth patterns to support walkable, mixed-use centers. The City of Memphis in collaboration with Opticos Design won a 2021 CNU Charter Award in the Metropolis, City, and Town category.

The Central Waterfront in San Francisco, California, is an opportunity for sustainable development. A UC-Berkeley team won a student merit award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the 2021 CNU Charter Awards.

The 75th Street Boardwalk in Chicago, Illinois, was created to activate economic and social activity during Covid. Site design group won a 2021 CNU Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category.

Lancaster BLVD in Lancaster, California, changed the way we think about creating “sense of place” in a busy downtown thoroughfare. Moule & Polyzoides won a 2021 CNU Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category.

Significant programs and legislation may set the stage for local code reform across the US, enabling better places.

Replacing the elevated Central Freeway with a boulevard would reknit the fabric of San Francisco neighborhoods. UC Berkeley student Qingchun Li won a student merit award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of CNU's 2021 Charter Awards.

Culdesac in Tempe, Arizona, a model community that combines urbanism with technology, is demonstrating an untapped demand for car-free living. Opticos Design won a merit award in the Emerging Projects category of CNU's 2021 Charter Awards.

Grace Midtown Church in Atlanta, Georgia, shows how underutilized industrial sites can be repurposed into community assets. Kronberg Urbanists + Architects won a merit award in the Block, Street, and Building category of CNU's 2021 Charter Awards.

The urban planning response to Covid in Norfolk, Virginia, was imaginative and comprehensive. Work Program Architects, Yard & Co, and Team Better Block won a merit award in The Region: Metropolis, City, and Town category of CNU's 2021 Charter Awards.

The Montgomery Park Master Plan is transforming warehouse and industrial buildings into a mixed-use district in Portland, Oregon. Lake Flato Architects won a merit award in the Emerging Projects category of CNU's 2021 Charter Awards.

The Project for Code Reform looks at Michigan municipalities to find the key changes to land-use regulations on the local level.

We need more ways to build uncomplicated affordable housing in cities and towns. These 19th Century townhouses in Alexandria, Virginia, offer a great model.  Although the townhouses have nice details, they wouldn’t be expensive to build. Each unit...

The replacement for Interstate 81 in the heart of Syracuse should be designed and built on the scale of a city street, giving the city an economic shot in the arm.

In the Shaw neighborhood in DC, a few blocks from downtown, a 71-unit condominium looks like two distinct buildings—a 10-story Classical one facing M Street and a six-story modern one facing 11 Street. In fact, these are the same building “melded...

Syracuse and NYS Department of Transportation face difficult decisions with the replacement of the I-81 elevated highway through downtown, choices that will impact the city for generations to come. The highway, past due for reconstruction, will be...

A former cinema site becomes a haven for a diverse suburban population in Virginia.

Philip Langdon’s Common\Edge article, The Precarious State of the Mom-and-Pop Store, highlights the beauty of, and challenges facing, an American tradition. “Mom and pop” stores have been under economic pressure for many decades due to...

It's time to use the idea of reduced demand where it has the potential to improve a city's economy, society, and mobility.

I was looking through the recent report, The Best Small Towns to Live Across America, published by Stacker. This kind of real estate list attracts attention, sucks you in like an awards show (which places did they pick?), and is based on nothing...

Dangerous by Design 2021 highlights the connection between roadway design and the tragic toll on people walking.

The character of Georgia Avenue, a historic Atlanta main street, was preserved while injecting new life into a neglected neighborhood.

The famous Paris artery Champs-Elysees, terminated by the landmark Arc de Triomphe, is due for a major redesign. The legendary avenue lost much of its splendor in recent decades, many Parisians believe, as eight lanes of traffic carry an average of...

Without improvements in the way we plan and build communities, electric vehicles will never deliver on their sustainability promise.

On Public Square, a recent article that lays out a design theory for the “15-minute city” is gaining a lot of viewers. Let's look at another influential take on this idea, that of Carlos Moreno, a French-Columbian scientist and university professor...

Carmel, Indiana, is building a walkable downtown from scratch—and also planning to have a strong tax base for many years to come.

The “15-minute city” may be defined as an ideal geography where most human needs and many desires are located within a travel distance of 15 minutes. Here’s what that means.

The video below, produced by Rob Sanders (Road Guy Rob), a journalist with a degree in civil engineering, provides an overview of transit-oriented development (TOD) that is sophisticated and yet engaging to a mass audience. The video covers projects...

A new book covers an emerging field that provides data on human responses to places, leading to new theories on community design.

The opening of registration for CNU 29.Design for Change got me thinking about past Congresses, especially in the light of the $150 fee available for members through March 7. While tracking exact Congress fees from the early years is elusive, the...

Living in a walkable community correlates to a significantly stronger reported quality of life—and that metric rose during the COVID 19 pandemic, according to a biennial poll on housing and transportation by the National Association of Realtors (NAR...

A toolkit highlights the power of land-use and transportation policy in recovery from the devastating impacts of COVID.

The subject of walkability is getting political attention, thanks to a catchy phrase.

A large new development area in Missoula, Montana, will be built out according to new urban principles.

Two retrofit experts have a new book that is an essential reference for transforming suburban landscapes.

The New Urbanism grew out of an open-minded educational environment, where students were encouraged to read and think for themselves rather than follow a particular design approach.

Ten changes are recommended to improve Main Street streetscapes.

Here's the top 10 stories on Public Square in 2020. While we posted many stories covering COVID, urban unrest, and other tragic events of the year, the most widely read articles centered on urban design, housing, retail, walkability, zoning, and...

Note: This list of steps comes from Enabling Better Places: Commercial Corridors and Shopping Malls, a report by CNU and the Michigan Municipal League.  Reforming places in your community that have a suburban, auto-oriented, single-use development...

The nation’s more than 7,600 Main Streets are hurting. Nobody knows exactly how much. At some point in 2021, when the vaccine has become available to everybody and the numbers of Covid cases plummet, we will collectively look around American...

Parking is a necessity in cities, whether it involves residents storing cars for days, shoppers and restaurant patrons occupying spaces for hours, or Uber drivers stopping at the curb for minutes. The same holds true whether the car, or other...

COVID-19 has exposed problems with the US long-term care model of nursing homes. About 40 percent of total COVID deaths in the US have occurred in nursing homes. Residents have been subject to severe isolation in 2020—visiting such facilities has...

The British Columbia town of Southlands combines New Urbanism with a connection to farming.

As an urbanist, I ask Santa to bring America a renewed interest and understanding of the importance of street grids (more precisely, connected networks of streets with relatively small blocks). That may be a tall order for Santa, but I have been...

CNU is now seeking applications for the 2021 Charter Awards. Going back to 2001, the Charter Awards have highlighted best practices and spread New Urbanism ideas worldwide. More than 300 Charter Awards have been awarded by CNU juries over the last...

The State of Oregon adopted significant zoning changes in 2019 that allow two-unit structures across most of the state, and three-unit housing on lots in larger communities. “This doesn’t ‘abolish the suburbs,’ but it does ensure that a wider...

A makeover for a central LA park will create a neighborhood and citywide asset, even as the site prepares to host the biggest international event.

CNU releases report on evolving Michigan suburban landscapes, especially commercial corridors and shopping malls. The ideas and techniques can apply to communities nationwide.

Today I am driving to the Windy City, shown above in a regional Transect—looking east from leafy suburban areas across city neighborhoods to the downtown Loop. I just finished reading and reviewing Transect Urbanism: Readings in Human Ecology, and...

Urbanists have been using the Transect to compete with the protocols of sprawl for years, and no book has been written on it—until now.

The City of Buffalo, Stantec, and CNU have created a roadmap for how mobility can power an equitable future in 21st century cities.

The image above, by architect Steve Mouzon, shows the entirety of renaissance Florence, Italy, fitting on a site comparable in size to a highway interchange in Atlanta. Renaissance Florence produced Michelangelo and da Vinci. The interchange...

Market and demographic trends could lead to revival of smaller American communities, according to a report.

An analysis of US street networks since 1940 shows plunging connectivity in the last half of the 20th Century, followed by a sharp reversal of that trend in the new millennium.

This holiday is about places and people and memory, and that has an impact on how we build and experience cities and towns.

As people move out of city centers into suburbs, keys policy changes and trends could help to make suburbs more walkable and affordable, according to panelists at a National Press Foundation event.

One of the few form-based codes to be applied citywide in a regional major city, Buffalo’s ordinance is having a positive impact on neighborhoods and downtown.

Tommy Pacello, passionate placemaker and a star of the New Urbanism at the peak of his abilities, died from complications due to pancreatic cancer on Monday. Pacello, 42, was president of the Memphis Medical District Collaborative (MMDC) and an...

Developer of the Cotton District succumbs to Covid in late October.

Cities and towns are facing a new reality, according to one of the founders of CNU. This calls for new designs that violate some of the long-held design doctrines of New Urbanism—but have the same social intention.

The Biden plan mentions code reform, transit, smart growth, underserved communities, and generally big investments in affordable housing.

Dallas is implementing a trail system that could make a big difference in the quality of life and health in this major city. The Loop Trail is a 50-mile trail system that is nearly half built, and the rest is funded or planned, creating a loop...

The US needs public works investments to help main streets.

A $500 million transit-oriented development will connect to the well-known new urban development as DART moves forward with a rail corridor.

Many malls are going out of business, and a recent report shows that how these sites are redeveloped impacts city finances. Municipalities can influence mall reuse to promote mixed-use redevelopment that provides long-term benefits.

Streets for Voting is a useful tool for communities across the US struggling with new requirements for polling sites in a crucial election.

Memphis, Tennessee, shows the benefits of having community investment and social infrastructure, supported by philanthropy and institutions, in place during a pandemic.

The Atlanta neighborhood of Pittsburgh was the subject of foundation investment to develop in an equitable way.

Although zoning was adopted locally, state legislation is helping to revise community land-use codes for the 21st Century.

Better Cities Film Festival, formerly New Urbanism Film Festival, will screen 81 films on urbanism from 25 countries.

Enabling missing middle housing and compact neighborhoods are at the heart of land-use reforms in many states and cities.

I recently read The Devil in the White City, about the Chicago 1893 World’s Fair. One place that I would like to go back in time to see, just for a day, would be this event. They say that some visitors would break down weeping upon entering the...

Cities are encouraging small manufacturing to promote inclusive economic development and livable wages in downtowns and main streets.

A case study by Peter Calthorpe shows the potential of underutilized suburban strips to help solve America's housing problems.

To meet the challenges of the 21st Century, traffic engineers and transportation planners need to think of streets as places and the foundation for community.

In DIY City, the late Hank Dittmar makes the case for why small is beautiful when it comes to urban regeneration.

Arthur C. Nelson, of the University of Arizona, reports that preference for walkable communities and changing demographic needs will impact large-lot single-family housing. Changes in government policy are needed to avert a crisis.

Following a recent code reform partnership with the State of Vermont culminating in a report and legislative initiatives, CNU has embarked on a similar project in New Hampshire, working with the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority. The first...

The city's Residential Infill Project is designed to promote missing middle and workforce housing.

Leon Krier, the 74-year-old architect who influenced CNU founders and designed Poundbury, has another major project in Southern England.

House-scale buildings with more than one living space can affordably shelter a broad range of families, revitalize communities, and profit builders throughout the 2020s and 2030s.

A second-grade bike education program in DC also informs children about street networks and helps them to understand their community.

A bill moving through Vermont legislature adopts key zoning reform measures for walkable communities, even as the state recently completed a report with CNU on incremental changes to land use laws.

The state DOT has a novel model to fix its automobile-oriented, dangerous thoroughfare network and design complete streets.

Memphis 3.0 establishes neighborhood centers where mixed-use development may occur incrementally, at different speeds, according to the context.

A new report makes the case that walkable suburbs are the are the next big development trend.

The Minnesota capital has major redevelopments underway, using principles of the Charter of the New Urbanism.

A CNU Athena Medal winner in 2007, David Lewis died last week at the age of 98. Lewis founded Urban Design Associates (UDA) in Pittsburgh with former student Ray Gindroz in 1964, a firm that pioneered concepts that later became known as New Urbanism...

Learning from Bryant Park: Revitalizing Cities, Towns, and Public Spaces, is an entertaining and important book for urbanists across America.

The Mississippi River is an armature for economic development and public space in Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The future of both cities, and the goal of equitable development, are tied to the riverfront.

A grassroots organization, Reconnecting Pasadena, helped to defeat an in-city freeway by proposing a mixed-use, urban alternative.

The cutting edge design for Clematis Street in West Palm Beach contributes to outdoor seating and programming for the tricky re-opening and post-pandemic recovery.

CNU celebrated 20 years of Charter Awards at CNU 28 last week—and the awards have promoted the cause of connected, sustainable, lovable communities.

Urban planning has important contributions to a wide range of climate change responses, from mitigation to adaptation, notes CNU cofounder Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.

Walkable urban place types are critical to life in traditional cities and they will thrive in the long run.

Transforming streets and vertical infrastructure through art is an important tool for enlivening cities this summer.

Durham, North Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia, are part of a nationwide trend of reforming single-family-only zones to allow for a diversity of housing options.

The Wharf has re-established DC as a true waterfront city and added a major destination along with affordable housing. The mixed-use development won the 2020 CNU Grand Prize Charter Award.

Connecting Crossroad explores how to preserve affordable housing while improving the public realm in Langley Park, an immigrant neighborhood in Maryland. The plan won a 2020 CNU Student Charter Award for Sara Ghafer-Samar at the University of Maryland.

After being hit by a Category 5 storm in the fall of 2018, Panama City, Florida, is following a vision to rebuild better than before. The plan won a 2020 CNU Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category for Dover, Kohl & Partners.

In its new form-based code, Somerville ditches a Model T zoning engine and adopts 21st Century green design. The code won a 2020 CNU Charter Award in the Metropolis, City, and Town category for the City of Somerville.

Beatrice Row brings the classical row house to Coral Gables, Florida, along with zoning guidelines for this type. The project won a 2020 CNU Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category for de la Guardia Victoria Architects & Urbanists.

The Center of Territorial Intelligence in Biodiversity in Curridabat, Costa Rica, is a model for studying climate change on an urban environment. The project won a 2020 CNU Charter Award in the Emerging Projects category for Tandem Arquitectura.

The King Open/Cambridge Street Community Complex provides much-needed public spaces and inclusive facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The project won a 2020 CNU Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category for William Rawn Associates.

An against-the-odds comeback, launched in the Great Recession, has brought life to a waning Main Street while enhancing the historic character of Senoia, Georgia. The project won a 2020 CNU Charter Award for Historical Concepts.

A new report looks at autonomous vehicles and other advancing mobility technologies with recommendations on how they can be used to create more livable communities.

The River District Implementation Plan is building a new walkable neighborhood across from downtown Elkhart, Indiana. Speck & Associates and Stantec’s Urban Places won a merit award in CNU's 2020 Charter Awards.

Underutilzed streets with little traffic are being transformed with temporary pedestrian and bicycle thoroughfares, shared streets, bikeways, expanded sidewalks, and outdoor eating to give citizens more room in a time of social distancing.

The Cleveland Park Library serves as an inviting beacon of culture for a neighborhood in Washington, DC. The building won a merit award for Perkins Eastman DC in the Block, Street, and Building category of the 2020 CNU Charter Awards.

Cases are down in the face of a big increase in testing. Mortality is also declining. These trends hold in the states that reopened early—as well as in the nation as a whole.

Jaquelin Robertson, described by The New York Times as a “passionate urbanist,” an influential academic, and one of the designers of Celebration, Florida,  died on last Saturday at the age of 87.  Together with Alexander Cooper, Robertson formed...

The Bastrop, Texas, Building Block Code uses a street grid with the goal of environmental and fiscal sustainability. The plan won a merit award for Simplecity Design in the Emerging Projects category of the 2020 CNU Charter Awards.

The Midtown Pattern Zone in Bryan, Texas, is designed to raise the level of design for economical infill. The zone won a merit award for the Infill Group and Miller Boskus Lack Architects in the Emerging Projects category of the 2020 CNU Charter Awards.

New urbanist developers employ many strategies to survive the current and future economic impacts of the coronavirus crisis. While survival is paramount, downturns also offer opportunities.

Traditional neighborhood development (TND) has offered an alternative model for suburban growth starting in the late 20th Century and continuing today. Kentlands in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is one of the oldest of these developments. Like most TNDs,...

The La Fontana District, designed by Moule & Polyzoides, contrasts with sprawl and uncontrolled infill that has damaged the historic city of David, Panama. The plan won a merit award in the Emerging Projects category of the 2020 CNU Charter Awards.

In the fifth State of Coronavirus in America report, the most encouraging trends are a dramatic rise in testing and declining mortality. But as cases rise in many states, the nation is far from out of the woods.

An analysis indicates that cases of COVID-19 are more related to what metro area you live in, rather than whether you live in the central city or a suburb. Transit also doesn’t correlate as a significant factor.

At least half of the US population lives in states that are currently reopening, or making near-term plans to reopen, their economies in phases. The risks vary, because different states have higher or lower levels of confirmed cases and mortalities.

The post-COVID-19 economy will mean hardship for communities and urbanists, but also will create opportunities and innovation.

A new report by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy examines the highways-to-boulevards trend and how this will impact cities in coming years.

While New York City is shut down, the city has an opportunity to work on long-term plans to make streets safer, quieter, and more pleasant for pedestrians and cyclists.

In this third State of Coronavirus in America report, Public Square examines the widely divergent health impacts across the US to look at how soon individual states may reopen their economies according to the new federal guidelines.

A shocking number of American small businesses, employing tens of millions of people, are at imminent risk of permanent closure if the crisis continues much longer, according to a survey of Main Street America.

The virus appears to have peaked or plateaued across much of the US, even as New York and other hotspots bear the worst of the crisis.

Using online tools, urban designers conduct virtual charrettes during the coronavirus crisis. Envisioning the future of a city is a great way for all involved to stay productive and connected to the community.

The way the virus has hit states and regions of the country differs greatly. The State of Coronavirus in America looks at divergent health impacts, including varying acceleration and hotspots.

This is Argyle Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, a downtown street known for its entertainment and dining. As part of a streetscape improvement project, the pavement was painted in an argyle pattern. Whoever had this idea should get a prize, and it...

Here’s what you need to know about a wide range of building types that make up mixed-use cities and towns, how they work, and why they matter.

Ultimately, this crisis will highlight how much we need to come together in the real world, and cities are a big part of that.

How quickly we have gotten used to a world that has seemingly stopped. I was out running yesterday morning, and came across construction workers who were moving and positioning heavy equipment for a development project near the waterfront of my city...

In a new book, Jonathan Barnett calls for using design thinking to achieve sustainable, functional, and equitable “megaregions.”

The pedestrian-friendly redesign of Cleveland’s Public Square spurred $1.2 billion in investment, according to a study. The 10-acre site at the heart of downtown used to be divided into four smaller squares with wide streets of through-traffic. The...

The city is testing new mobility technologies to promote economic development and placemaking for the 21st Century.

A massive skyscraper is being renovated as a mixed-use, walkable urban center in a city that was pronounced dead not too long ago.

Widening of roads usually reduces congestion only for a short period of time, after which the congestion returns—as bad or worse than ever. The above graph shows why the forecast benefits of more roads are almost always a disappointment.  “Induced...

A New Pattern Language for Growing Regions provides 80 new patterns, in the format of Alexander’s classic architecture book, and is a worthwhile read for urbanists, planners, and designers of the built environment.

What do we need to know about the success, failure, and future prospects of creating walkable, diverse urbanism?

As cities and towns plan for rapidly changing transportation technology, flexible urban design and policy solutions are needed. Here are six considerations based on a workshop in Walton County, Florida.

In partnership with CNU and Stantec Urban Places, the city will host an intensive, four-and-a-half-day workshop on micromobility (e.g. scooters and e-bikes), automated vehicles, and new parking technologies, and how these trends will affect city living.

Banning of cars is the first step in a streetscape reconstruction of the city’s major thoroughfare.

The Mueller Airport redevelopment has charted a path to become one of the most livable, walkable places in Austin, Texas, with substantial affordable housing.

Back in September I wrote about DPZ CoDESIGN’s innovative new architecture for tiny houses and trailers—affordable housing that can be manufactured and assembled into villages with some of the informal community advantages of “trailer parks,” yet...

Milwaukee's Park East Corridor, on the national stage this summer, ultimately changed how the city views itself.

Note: Hammond, Indiana, is seeking proposals from developers to build in a downtown that has recently ad­opted a new urban plan, is creating a new rail connection to Chicago, and has committed to a transformation of the downtown main street.  When...

A national team of experts will work with local and other participants to examine automated vehicle implementation on the 30A beach highway, which goes through Seaside and many other towns.

The control tower for the old Stapleton Airport in Denver is a machine for enhanced vision. The tower now has a view of one of the largest new urban developments in the world. Stapleton, Denver, contains nine neighborhoods, nine schools, 50 parks,...

This wonderful gingerbread village was made in the holiday spirit recently by David M. Schwarz Architects (DMSAS). The village is based on principles of good urban planning, reports Lauren Landau for the blog DCist. “Gregory Hoss, president of DMSAS...

Only two miles apart, the Baltimore neighborhoods of Park Heights and Guilford have radically different health outcomes. These two neighborhoods are divided by an Interstate highway (I-83), and were designated differently by financial (“redlining”)...

Good urbanism allows us to look forward and back simultaneously, and the top Public Square articles do that. The most-read pieces cover many aspects of life: architecture, religion, transportation, philosophy, housing, nature, shopping, and even golf (!).

Large mixed-use apartment complex in the midst of suburbia will be laid out like a European village with architecture appropriate to the southwestern desert.

As the City of New York is talking about spending $4-8 billion on rebuilding the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE), a pair of new urbanists are proposing that a section of this Interstate be torn down and replaced by city streets.  In a guest column...

Retail success is tricky in new urban places—so pay attention to fundamental principles because buying and selling are essential activities in a walkable urban center.

New Urbanism planning principles have been incorporated into comprehensive plans all across Texas, and this has begun to have real impacts on people and places.

For many years, retailers resisted the architecture of street-facing storefronts, but necessity is the mother of flexibility.

Review of City on a Hill: Urban Idealism in America from the Puritans to the Present, by Alex Krieger, Harvard University Press, 2019.

The year’s awards will celebrate design that takes New Urbanism to the next level and inspires a new generation of urbanists.

The decision of a city in Texas to plan for new growth using a grid of streets has inspired readers and makes a lot of sense.

New, lean code deals with flooding issues and fiscal sustainability for fast-growing historic city in the Austin area.

An unprecedented public process created a long-term recovery plan for the California municipality leveled by fire—and sets a model for responding to a changing world.

The Florida Panhandle city survived Category 5 Michael with most of the downtown intact—the plan looks to a more resilient future in the face of potential sea level rise.

From transit-oriented development to Tactical Urbanism, transportation themes have resounded through the first two decades of the CNU Charter Awards.

Earlier this year CNU released a report called Building Local Strength that focused on how to revitalize severely disinvested neighborhoods in ways that minimize displacement of, and maximize opportunity for, legacy residents. This is a complex...

The city made progress with code reform and is moving forward with street improvements and new public spaces, including the possible transformation of a dead mall.

Charles Marohn's new book presents a way out for American cities that are trapped in a vicious cycle: Build neighborhoods one small step at a time rather than going straight to utopia.

While hundreds of malls are declining, they are also being reused for all kinds of purposes—including walkable urban places in communities lacking in this kind of environment.

Clear, jargon-free messages that promote urbanism are to be commended—whether they come from CNU or an aligned organization. Today I highlight a video from The Incremental Development Alliance (IncDev), in which they explain their organization's...

The city of Oak Park has the density—it needs placemaking, and that is why an automobile-oriented corridor is being transformed with a linear greenway and complete street.

US Downtowns have been recovering in population and jobs for two decades, and research from the International Downtown Association provides further evidence that that this is a nationwide phenomenon. The study looks at 24 cities of a range of sizes...

Suburbs may be defined in many ways, and a focus on walkability yields robust data aimed toward making better communities and sustainable regions.

Street grids hold special power to solve problems of massive urbanization, according to Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Romer.

A Tucson neighborhood with new urban/sustainable design outperforms conventional suburban tract housing environmentally—with lower temperatures—socially, and economically.

Three heartland cities are investing to strengthen the downtown core and build a framework for regional multimodal transportation.

Even as e-commerce takes market share and national chain stores close, demographic shifts have created a growth market for downtown retail and mixed-use.

Urban designer and architect Tom Low recently drew this side-by-side comparison of how a highway can gut, or work in harmony with, a city or town. The cloverleaf option, at left, is ideal for a highway interchange in the country, but creates an...

For about a quarter of typical road diet costs, semi-permanent street transformations have been successfully demonstrated in two cities.

Urbanists can do lot to help improve outcomes in particular Opportunity Zones. Here’s a checklist based on lessons from real communities.

We have made cars safer, but we still are reluctant to make streets safer.

This missing middle housing type is a highly adaptable tool for developers and builders in many locations.

From the decimation of downtowns to the “retail apocalypse,” massively changing retail has been the norm for the last seven decades. Urban retail may benefit from the current transformation.

Prairie Queen is a re-imagining of a suburban apartment complex in the form of a walkable neighborhood.

William H. Whyte was a pioneer on studying the endlessly fascinating ways that people use public spaces. The SWA Group recently conducted an update on Whyte's work in New York City, and the results were published in a Guardian article called From...

Memphis Medical District demonstrates the power of anchor institutions to improve sense of place and the economy in surrounding neighborhoods, while avoiding displacement.

The above images represent an analysis of two residential suburban streets, and answer the question of which one is likely to attract and interest more pedestrians. Aside from the fact that the one on the right has more sidewalks, the immediate...

A vision for a brownfield in Hong Kong could be one answer to its housing shortage.

The American housing industry is changing course—and this will transform neighborhoods and communities over time by providing more and different choices in housing.

Shopability studies for two Florida cities illustrate the potential and hurdles for many American small-to-midsize downtowns.

The conventional suburban site plan above left was drawn for a hilltop site in a large development project. Charlotte architect and urban planner Tom Low, director of Civic By Design, created the alternative New Urbanism plan of a hamlet. The idea...

Score one for historic preservation when a canal in use for two millennia was saved from being filled in to create a road and instead planned as a unique public space.

A "pop up" park has evolved into a major downtown Detroit square that is anchoring a neighborhood revitalization.

There are now 738 codes that meet the criteria for form-based codes, according to Emily Talen, Hazel Borys, and Matt Lambert, the team that keeps tracks of these codes on a website called The Codes Study. Of those codes, 439 are adopted. It's been a...

Plan Viva Laredo is making an immediate impact on Laredo, as streets are retrofitted for multimodal transportation and developers are encouraged to use new urban principles.

“The most effective way to fight global warming is to plant lots of trees, a study says. A trillion of them, maybe,” according to a July 4 article by the Associated Press.  Street trees may be the most effective of all, because of their multiple...

Two-way streets prove safer, more walkable, and more supportive of business than one-way streets for Midwestern cities.

Opportunity Zone finance is helping to kickstart development around an underutilized section of the Beltline in Atlanta.

Four developments in Deanwood, DC, show the transformative potential of multiple projects that include low-income housing in a single Opportunity Zone.

It doesn't take much digging to find that generational blame for sprawl doesn’t add up and gets us no closer to a solution—for that, we need a more targeted approach.

Elkhart, Indiana, is implementing plans to attract young, talented, workers to start businesses and boost the economy.

Downtown Westminster, Colorado, is designed as a ‘place’ that grows organically with affordable housing included.

A national study shows strong demand for walkable urban development—cities with high rents perform surprisingly well on social equity measures.

New York State transportation officials are gathering crucial input to ensure the successful transformation of Route 81 in Syracuse into a Community Grid.

The cities represent the versatility of recent codes that replace conventional zoning.

Daybreak Mews is a prime example of how “missing middle” housing types can expand choices while adding to the urban fabric of a larger neighborhood.

Transforming suburban places is a growing and necessary trend across America. What are the tactics to make it happen?

A new vision for Chicago's grandest boulevard connects two neighborhoods and provides a setting for 4,200 new housing units.

Seaside’s influence on urban redevelopment is profound—it initiated a re-evaluation of the the civic realm in planning and city building. Lessons learned at Seaside have been applied in the revival, redevelopment, and restoration of existing communities.

A Charter Award-winning development in Louisville has challenged conventional models of retail and civic space and provided a model for how the city can grow in the pattern of its historic neighborhoods.