• Toward Placekeeping: How design + dialogue can make cities better for everyone

    At CityLab DC, speakers focus on keeping the culture of place in the face of a changing city.
    “Placekeeping is very different from placemaking,” said Oakland, California Mayor Libby Schaaf recently at CityLab DC --a two-day conference of ideas and solutions for cities large and small. “Placekeeping is about engaging the residents who already live in a space and allowing them to preserve the...Read more

  • Partnership in DC focuses on minimizing displacement ahead of bridge park

    An Equitable Development Plan offers wealth building opportunities—not just affordable rental housing—including homeownership, workforce development, financial counseling, and small business development.
    In Washington, DC, the decommissioning of the 11th Street Bridge offered an opportunity to create an elevated linear park over the Anacostia River using the piers of the old bridge. The proposed bridge park, expected to break ground in 2021, would connect to trails on both sides of the river and...Read more

  • Leveraging proximity to downtown, physical assets, and culture

    An initiative for Westside Atlanta—an area replete with civil rights history—combines new housing and public realm improvements with a wide range of social and philanthropic programs designed to help legacy residents to thrive while the area redevelops.
    Atlanta’s Historic Westside has a history rich with achievement and activism. The area is home to five Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lived there during the peak years of the Civil Rights Movement. The Historic Westside boasts many civic and cultural...Read more

  • Building Local Strength: Emerging Strategies for Inclusive Development

    Design strategies alone won’t ensure that good urban design, land use, and public spaces will be accessible and equitable. Communities are figuring out solutions, and they are outlined in a new CNU report.
    In 2007, I was on a technical assistance team working to revitalize and tame Denver’s East Alameda corridor. My colleagues Dena Belzer, Jim Charlier, and Tim Van Meter (all current or former CNU members) and I were looking at three different nodes along the corridor, two with relatively simple...Read more