• 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

  • Louisville creek restoration funded, subject of CNU Legacy Project

    CNU Legacy Projects have addressed widely diverse urban issues, and Beargrass Creek in Louisville is more distinct than most. The 2019 project , led by Gresham Smith , looked at a neglected urban waterway and how its restoration could impact 14 diverse neighborhoods. Legacy Projects, intended to...Read more

  • Legacy Project focuses on historic Black theater

    The Jewel Theatre is a 1931 brick building with Deco details on 4 th Street of Oklahoma City—the only building left standing on what was once a thriving main street block in a Black business district. The Jewel Theatre operated from the 1930s through the 1970s, and is now a deteriorating shell...Read more

  • Vision for livability along an Interstate

    I-494 forms the border between two Minnesota suburbs. A CNU Legacy team created a plan to improve life for economically disadvantaged residents of the area.
    Bloomington and Richfield, Minnesota, are two cities in the Minneapolis/St. Paul region divided by a common highway—Interstate 494. Although both cities include street grids, that network is broken at I-494, which forms the municipal border (Richfield to the north and Bloomington to the south)...Read more