• Tools for Building Local Strength

    Earlier this year CNU released a report called Building Local Strength that focused on how to revitalize severely disinvested neighborhoods in ways that minimize displacement of, and maximize opportunity for, legacy residents. This is a complex problem that requires the creative thinking and...Read more

  • Jargon-free urbanism

    Clear, jargon-free messages that promote urbanism are to be commended—whether they come from CNU or an aligned organization. Today I highlight a video from The Incremental Development Alliance (IncDev), in which they explain their organization's mission: “To help regular people build small, hard-...Read more

  • Attracting people and jobs to downtown

    US Downtowns have been recovering in population and jobs for two decades, and research from the International Downtown Association provides further evidence that that this is a nationwide phenomenon. The study looks at 24 cities of a range of sizes and locations from Wichita and Ann Arbor in the...Read more

  • Civano: A ‘cool’ community

    A Tucson neighborhood with new urban/sustainable design outperforms conventional suburban tract housing environmentally—with lower temperatures—socially, and economically.
    I remember seeing plans for Civano, a new urban community outside of Tucson, Arizona, back in 1996. I was excited to see the combination of New Urbanism and sustainability and the sophisticated use of traditional Southwest architectural styles that made this design unique and exciting. While Civano...Read more