• Citizen revolt preserves 2,000-year-old waterway

    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.
    The 7.4-mile-long Canal Nacional served as the main transportation waterway during the construction of Mexico City more than 2,000 years ago, and since then has been a conduit of vital supplies, from food to construction materials. It is the oldest linear park in the city—a rich ecosystem that is...Read more

  • Public space is downtown gateway

    A "pop up" park has evolved into a major downtown Detroit square that is anchoring a neighborhood revitalization.
    Located on the west side of Detroit’s Central Business District, Beacon Park was created to anchor an emerging district, spur economic growth within the neighborhood, and provide a high-quality gathering space for Detroiters and beyond. Beacon Park was conceived and built by DTE, a utility company...Read more

  • Hundred-year plan for a gateway city

    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.
    As the United States’ largest inland port, and third-largest overall port, Laredo, Texas, is an important city economically and a gateway to manufacturing across the Mexican border. Laredo has achieved double-digit growth in every decade since 1860. Yet Laredo is also one of the poorest cities in...Read more

  • Powerful public space to knit Chicago’s South Side

    A new vision for Chicago's grandest boulevard connects two neighborhoods and provides a setting for 4,200 new housing units.
    The Midway Plaisance is Chicago’s grandest boulevard. One mile long and an eighth of a mile wide, “The Midway” connects Jackson Park on the east to Washington Park on the west, flanked on the north by the University of Chicago, and on the south by a historic neighborhood, Woodlawn. An original...Read more