• From unsafe arterial to thriving main street

    CNU and affiliated designers work with a community to identify implementation solutions for a disinvested urban corridor west of Charlotte’s Center City.
    Currently, West Boulevard in Charlotte is anything but a safe and comfortable walk. A narrow sidewalk directly abuts travel lanes where traffic goes 50 miles per hour. There are no street trees or parked cars to buffer pedestrians. Those on foot sense constant danger. The alternative vision is a...Read more

  • Community plan builds on success of food kitchen

    A team of new urbanists design for a neighborhood in the crosshairs of gentrification, adding healthy food and affordable housing.
    Building on a successful nonprofit food kitchen, the Highland neighborhood in Gastonia, North Carolina, is planning to grow in a healthy and walkable way as gentrification pressure mounts. Located northwest of downtown, Highland is home to 5,000 mostly African-American residents. A team of new...Read more

  • Creating a mixed-use college town in an ‘edge city’

    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.
    The challenge for University City in Charlotte is two-fold: Finding a way to humanize a classic ‘edge city’ while providing an off-campus gathering space for a major research university, University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC). By focusing on the public realm first, a team of designers have...Read more

  • Louisville creek restoration funded, subject of CNU Legacy Project

    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 diverse neighborhoods. Legacy Projects, intended to...Read more