• Civic space designed to reveal a dark history

    The Shockoe Project tells an important story about slavery while providing public space that links downtown to an adjacent neighborhood. Baskervill won a Merit Award in the Block, Street, and Building category of the 2025 CNU Charter Awards.
    The Shockoe Project is transforming a historically important but underutilized 10-acre site in Richmond, Virginia, into a nationally significant remembrance of the suffering and struggles of enslaved Americans. The project is planned for the Shockoe Valley, just east of downtown, on a site with a...Read more

  • Revitalizing an urban corridor and neighborhood

    Acushnet Avenue is the heart of the North End of New Bedford, Massachusetts. A Legacy Project called Love the Ave associated with CNU 33 proposes targeted interventions to improve vitality and quality of life in a 40-block area on both sides of Acushnet.
    The “Love the Ave” CNU Legacy Project presents a revitalization strategy for the Acushnet Avenue corridor and North End neighborhood in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Developed through the Congress for the New Urbanism’s Legacy Project , the report outlines a vision to transform the area into a...Read more

  • Seven qualities of safe spaces

    An American urban planner who was influential in the design of mixed-income neighborhoods enumerates the qualities of public spaces that feel safe and secure.
    People are hard-wired by thousands of years of evolution to react to the built environment in certain universal ways. That’s true because the design of communities has a real impact on safety, health, and social relationships. Over countless generations, our ancestors were attracted to places that...Read more

  • Infrastructure Department boosts the public realm

    Jersey City is showing how to rapidly transform public space to serve a wide range of users, contributing to its reputation as a livable city.
    Two years ago, the City of Jersey City created a Department of Infrastructure to oversee streets, transit, parks, municipal buildings, and other facilities—an unusual and bold move helping transform the public realm. The department and policies leading up to its creation were pivotal in...Read more