• Savannah adopts two CNU Legacy projects and a downtown plan

    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.
    A little over a year after CNU 26 in Savannah , Georgia, that city’s council formally supported two CNU “legacy projects” and adopted a new downtown plan. Legacy Projects are launched each year to leave an enduring mark on the host city and region of the annual CNU Congress—and the Savannah...Read more

  • From extractive investment to community wealth

    There's another side to Opportunity Zones: They could be a catalyst for an emerging system of building community wealth that is bottom-up and local—focusing on the "whole neighborhood."
    Above the fold in Sunday’s The New York Times was a blistering piece on Opportunity Zones: “How a Trump Tax Break to Help Poor Communities Became a Windfall for the Rich.” The article is grounded in evidence and a depressing account of parasitic capitalism that generates wealth for just a few...Read more

  • Eight policies and programs that Opportunity Zones need

    Urbanists can do lot to help improve outcomes in particular Opportunity Zones. Here’s a checklist based on lessons from real communities.
    Opportunity Zones (OZs) have the potential be the biggest community development program in the nation’s history, according to the Rockefeller Foundation. There are more than 8,700 OZs designated in every state and most cities, targeting investments in low-to-moderate-income urban and rural areas—or...Read more

  • Small industrial city diversifies its economy with urbanism

    Elkhart, Indiana, is implementing plans to attract young, talented, workers to start businesses and boost the economy.
    Elkhart, a city of 52,000 in north Indiana, is not a place that is well known nationally for its urban revival. Yet Elkhart adopted a plan for a $400 million, 90-acre “River District” across from downtown. The district offers a setting for substantial new urbanist development, including a thousand...Read more