• Great idea: Shock and awe for cities and towns

    Charles Marohn of Strong Towns and Joe Minicozzi of Urban3 have been sounding the alarm across America about the financial unsustainability of fragmented development patterns and conventional suburban infrastructure.
    In celebration of the upcoming CNU 25.Seattle , Public Square is running the series 25 Great Ideas of the New Urbanism. These ideas have been shaped by new urbanists and continue to influence cities, towns, and suburbs. The series is meant to inspire and challenge those working toward complete...Read more

  • Reforming the low-income housing tax credit scoring system

    Affordable housing is built in the suburbs in automobile-dependent places, forcing low-income and working-class residents to spend too much on transportation.
    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 Affordable housing is built in the suburbs in automobile-dependent places, forcing low-income and working...Read more

  • ‘Walkable urban’ dominates US commercial development

    Mixed-use, walkable commercial development is outpacing large-scale conventional suburban construction in every major metro area, according to the new report Foot Traffic Ahead : Ranking Walkable Urbanism in America’s Largest Metros, 2016 . For perhaps the first time in 60 years, walkable urban...Read more

  • The unintended consequences of housing finance

    Federal programs that were created in another era continue to pose barriers to financing mixed-use, compact, sustainable communities—despite lower risk.
    Growing numbers of young and old Americans prefer to live in communities where they can walk to stores, school, services, parks and public transportation. But federal housing rules make it difficult to meet this demand. By capping the amount of com­mercial development permitted in federally-backed...Read more