• Why Universal Design is critical to CNU

    Too many architects, planners, transportation engineers, and urban designers reduce the ADA to some kind of onerous hurdle that must be leaped.
    As a reporter, marketer, and planner, I have been involved with the Congress for New Urbanism since its founding. I started writing about urban design, growth, development and how cities work and fail in 1988, the same year I married a brilliant attorney and writer who has used a wheelchair for...Read more

  • Community Land Trust is planting the roots of housing affordability

    Initiated by area residents as part of the 11th Street Bridge Park equitable development plan, The Douglass Community Land Trust has become an important part of the housing affordability toolkit in Washington, DC.
    The 11th Street Bridge Park’s equitable development plan was created in 2015 in response to community feedback to ensure that existing residents and small businesses near the Bridge Park would continually benefit from this new civic space. To address a concern over gentrification and displacement,...Read more

  • Revitalizing a stigmatized neighborhood

    El Punto Neighborhood Revitalization is a comprehensive, large-scale effort to lift up an immigrant enclave in Salem, MA. North Shore Community Development Coalition won a 2022 Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category.
    A community-driven initiative has revitalized a disadvantaged neighborhood in Salem, Massachusetts, through public art, affordable housing, historic rehabilitation, and wide-ranging community projects. The transformation of The Point, a 50-acre immigrant neighborhood with a large Dominican...Read more

  • Bringing the best parts of town to a disadvantaged area

    Church Hill North—Armstrong Renaissance invests in a neglected Richmond neighborhood to “remap the geography of segregation.” Torti Gallas + Partners won a Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of CNU's 2022 Charter Awards.
    Church Hill North—Armstrong Renaissance is a 22-acre extension of a disinvested neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia, addressing long-standing social issues while respecting the city’s proud architectural heritage. The design guarantees a high quality of urban space in a development that is...Read more