• From failed mall to downtown core, a city takes charge

    Downtown Westminster in Westminster, Colorado, is the redevelopment of a former mall into a walkable center, led by the city. Torti Gallas + Partners won a Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the 2023 CNU Charter Awards.
    A large number of malls are dying nationwide—but in most cases, a city or town just lets a developer or investor determine the fate of a property, if there is a market for reusing the site. That’s not what city leaders in Westminster, Colorado, did when the 40-year-old Westminster Mall declined in...Read more

  • Creating a mixed-use college town in an ‘edge city’

    CNU and affiliated designers visited a sprawling part of Charlotte to plan the transition of a 16-acre shopping center into a mixed-use center, with connections to a major university—UNCC. Temporary public space drives suburban retrofit.
    The challenge for University City in Charlotte is two-fold: Finding a way to humanize a classic ‘edge city’ while providing an off-campus gathering space for a major research university, University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC). By focusing on the public realm first, a team of designers have...Read more

  • Why vacant offices are post-pandemic opportunities

    Cities and states offer incentives for developers to convert offices to living spaces, which could have a profound impact on downtowns, employment districts, and office parks.
    Near the beginning of the pandemic, when downtowns across America resembled eerily well-maintained ghost towns, a Public Square article speculated on what would happen if many workers never returned to the office. “When we emerge from this pandemic, it would not be surprising if employees...Read more

  • Turning an office park into a town center

    The rethinking of a conventional office park, Carmel Gateway is the latest big idea to be proposed in Carmel, Indiana, the city of roundabouts.
    Under the leadership of Mayor Jim Brainard, Carmel, Indiana, has been a town planning innovator for a quarter century. With almost 150 roundabouts (making it one of the safest suburban communities in the US), and the striking new Monon Boulevard planned by Speck & Associates and Gehl with...Read more