East Beach

Norfolk, Virginia

A 90-acre beachfront area was redeveloped into a mixed-use traditional neighborhood development. Developer LeylandAlliance worked with the City of Norfolk and the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority to build a 700-unit seaside neighborhood with a variety of housing types including 20 percent rental apartments and accessory dwelling units, a public beach, and a range of public spaces. 

The pre-existing housing on the site was built by the federal government in 1960 and was in bad condition by the early 1990s. The city demolished the existing housing and relocated residents (facing considerable criticism), and decided to use the expanding tax base of a redevelopment to pursue a goal of assisting low-income residents find better housing. 

DPZ CoDesign planned the new neighborhood in a 1994 public charrette. The irregular layout of the development allows for the preservation of existing trees on the site. 

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South Main #thisisCNU

Buena Vista, Colorado

Outside Buena Vista, Colorado, on the site of a former garbage dump, forty acres of riverfront land sat vacant for years. It took two nature-loving developers—risk-takers with a background as competitive kayakers—to see what it could become.


Southwest Waterfront

Washington, District Of Columbia

Part of Pierre L’Enfant’s original plan for the Capitol, Washington, DC’s Southwest Waterfront has seen better days. At the beginning of the 20th century, it had a thriving commercial corridor and a multi-ethnic community.


Hunters View #thisisCNU

San Francisco, California

By any measure, San Francisco ranks among the world’s most beautiful cities. Yet for years, in a sector that tourists never see, 50 barracks-style buildings constructed in 1943 housed 264 families in poverty and fear.