• Designing a new urban employment magnet

    Creating a town center with appealing public spaces and a mix of uses has many advantages over a conventional office park, and that draws employers to the Village of Providence.
    Twenty years ago today, DPZ CoDESIGN came to Huntsville, Alabama to begin design on the Village of Providence, a Traditional Neighborhood Development that shattered several norms and accomplished things that aren't supposed to happen today. There are so many great Providence stories, but let's...Read more

  • A new cultural epicenter for Savannah

    The Plant Riverside District in Savannah, Georgia, transformed an abandoned industrial site into the most significant modern expansion of the city’s urban core. Sottile & Sottile and The Kessler Collection won the 2021 CNU Grand Prize Charter Award.
    Note: Charter Awards will be presented in a ceremony Friday evening, May 21, at CNU 29. Design for Change . Plant Riverside District revamped a former industrial site into a dynamic mixed-use waterfront district, woven into the city, extending Savannah’s renowned Oglethorpe plan. The development...Read more

  • How mixed-use development can raise the tax base

    Carmel, Indiana, is building a walkable downtown from scratch—and also planning to have a strong tax base for many years to come.
    Carmel, Indiana, a rapidly growing suburban city of more than 100,000 people, demonstrates the value of mixed-use development in raising tax revenues. In a presentation to Carmel City Council in early February, Redevelopment Director Henry Mestetsky made a strong case for focusing on downtown core...Read more

  • Retail types that have survived for centuries

    Walkable urban place types are critical to life in traditional cities and they will thrive in the long run.
    The retail industry is currently going through massive upheaval due to COVID-19, and this is on top of turmoil that was taking place over the last decade due to general societal trends. Some of this upheaval is good, but it is damaging to businesses, jobs, and people’s lives in the near term. At...Read more