• The Milwaukee Road and CNU 35

    The setting for CNU 35 is the hub for one of America's great historical rail systems, at the heart of Minnesota's Twin Cities where the Mississippi River falls.
    If you love maps, get ready to love the one pictured above when you attend CNU 35 Twin Cities . It is eight feet wide and shows the entire Milwaukee Road railroad system in its glory in 1954—more than 10,000 miles of line centered on the depot in Minneapolis. And it's on the wall of the Renaissance...Read more

  • ‘TOD streets’ law would ban ped-hostile uses along corridors

    Chicago council unanimously approves an ordinance that would promote ped-friendly uses near transit stops.
    Chicago City Council approved a new version of an ordinance for “TOD Streets” that makes pedestrian-oriented uses required near train stations, and designates the first two “TOD Streets”—Ravenswood Avenue and Western Avenue on the North Side. The ordinance bans certain uses deemed hostile to...Read more

  • Why ‘house-scale’ is key to neighborhood building diversity

    A missing middle coding expert explains why planners should understand and use this term.
    I have heard the term “house-scale” but never gave it much thought. Now I understand why it matters for incorporating Missing Middle Housing into residential neighborhoods in a way that looks compatible with existing houses, thanks to a recent column by Tony Perez. “By defining what we mean by...Read more

  • A regional missing middle strategy

    If Missing Middle Housing is to be built at a scale that will go far toward solving our housing problems, we need regional thinking and this toolkit fits the bill.
    Eighteen municipalities, totaling about 600,000 people, collaborated on a Missing Middle Housing Toolkit for the Chicago Region in 2025. “At its core, the toolkit promotes a shift in zoning and planning that better supports diversity, affordability, and sustainability,” says Opticos Design, who...Read more