• Turning a dead mall into a downtown is not easy, but worth the effort

    As the US seeks a long-term use for hundreds of dead malls, cities can put their faith in urbanism.
    We are amid a massive repurposing of shopping malls in the US. Bill Fulton, author of The Future of Where substack, cites estimates of the US shrinking from 3,000 regional malls down to 200. Alan Ehrenhalt, contributing editor of Governing magazine, explains that the malls have been dying for two...Read more

  • Mapping the culture and retrofit of a car-oriented community

    A Framework Plan for Cherokee Village envisions retrofitting a partially built 20th-century new town. University of Arkansas Community Design Center won a Merit Award in The Region: Metropolis, City and Town category of the 2025 CNU Charter Awards.
    Cherokee Village is a mid-20th-Century planned new town that failed to reach its full potential. After 70 years, only 20 percent of the lots are built, housing a population of about 5,000 people. It was planned for 60,000 people, served by nearly 300 miles of roads over 21 square miles of northern...Read more

  • Adding value to a commercial shopping center

    Wheatland Plaza in Duncanville is a model for adding value to an underutilized site along a suburban arterial through an efficient mixed-use design.
    As retail suffers and goes through technological change, this presents problems and opportunities for local communities—some of which can be solved through design transformations. Thousands of strip malls are struggling or vacant, especially in the suburbs. This image from Wheatland Plaza in...Read more

  • Trails, greens, and housing trending for retrofit

    Williamson and Dunham-Jones explain what's hot in reforming suburbs on CNU’s On the Park Bench.
    The suburban built environment has symbolized America since the 1950s, and it desperately needs an upgrade. Many malls, commercial strips, and office parks are struggling or dying, unable to compete with the Internet and hurt by remote work. Architectural professors June Williamson and Ellen Dunham...Read more