• The architect’s new clothes

    Avant-gardist catch phrases ring hollow. Designers can move beyond rhetorical red herrings to create good places for people.
    Architecture that learns from earlier styles is sometimes criticized by modernists as “nostalgic.” This label and other catch phrases get in the way of developing architecture that responds to the real needs of our time. For example, New Urbanists have designed neighborhoods laid out like the old...Read more

  • The Flower City blooms again

    As growing legions of Americans look for urban places, many will be drawn to more affordable mid-sized cities like Rochester, NY.
    Rochester, New York, continues to struggle overall, having lost population in every decade since 1950—but its downtown is booming. After collapsing by 85 percent in the last four decades of the 20th Century, downtown population has tripled since 2000—up to 6,000 people. Rochester had enormous...Read more

  • Downtown Pontiac: 'Nothing looks impossible'

    The Legacy Charrette plan includes both incremental steps to kick-start economic and cultural activity and long-term visions.
    Pontiac, Michigan, could be headed for a downtown revival, a CNU Legacy Charrette team led by DPZ Partners told citizens and officials. The keys to unlocking economic development are to transform the massive one-way Woodward Loop, also called the Wide Track, that currently sends traffic around...Read more

  • Mixed-use density in a suburban center

    Building density that supports walkable urban centers is a key strategy of new urbanists—but this goal is challenging in already built-out suburbs. Existing conditions, space constraints, zoning restrictions, and long approval processes often present obstacles. Despite those barriers, Arlington,...Read more