• Vibrant urban center rebuilt

    Sundance Square in Fort Worth, Texas, is a pioneering example of New Urbanism in a sprawling, Sunbelt city.
    Fort Worth’s downtown suffered like many others in the second half of the Twentieth Century. Streets were widened and historic buildings were town down for parking. By the 1980s, property values had plummeted as residents fled for the suburbs and shopping malls. Then the Bass Brothers, scions an...Read more

  • Rebuilding a victim of urban renewal

    The Mercado District takes its urban design and architecture cues from Tucson's historic adobe neighborhoods.
    The Mercado District, once leveled by urban renewal, is fast becoming one of Tucson’s most significant hubs. The district takes its urban design and architecture cues from the city's historic adobe neighborhoods. The city's few historic neighborhoods that remain have recently come back to life—and...Read more

  • New blocks and streets repair a Sunbelt city

    Here's how Orlando replaced a hole in the city with connective tissue.
    In the mid-1990s, the City of Orlando faced the closure of the 1,100-acre Naval Training Center, two miles from downtown. The easiest reuse option for the land would have included big box stores, an office park, and/or suburban housing pods. The easy route would have provided more of what the...Read more

  • Cultivating consensus

    The charrette process can empower citizens to agree on the location of multiple walkable centers in suburban areas.
    Note: This document is one of a series of tools created for Build a Better Burb, the Hub for Great Suburban Design. The Build a Better Burb website has been recently updated by CNU. The Problem Many US suburban governments, such as townships (each usually 36 square miles in area), are so vast that...Read more