• Growth Without Sameness: Why CNU 34 in Northwest Arkansas matters now

    Northwest Arkansas is hosting CNU 34 this year, and it is not an accidental choice. This is one of the fastest growing regions in the country, and one of the few still deciding what that growth should look like.
    For planners, designers, and local officials asking whether the trip is worth it, the answer is not in the sessions alone. It is in the conditions on the ground. Growth, money, civic investment, and a political culture that is unusually open to New Urbanist ideas, whether or not it uses that...Read more

  • Turning a dead mall into a thriving urban center

    MidCity District in Huntsville, Alabama, is an exemplary model for suburban retrofit. Urban Design Associates won a Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the 2026 CNU Charter Awards.
    The MidCity District replaces a 140-acre failing mall site with a block-and-street network that offers tremendous opportunities to develop valuable real estate supporting a high-quality public realm. The Huntsville, Alabama, project was designed in 2015 and adapted to changes wrought by the...Read more

  • A town extension for the ages

    New mixed-use development at Nansledan, Newquay in Cornwall UK is socially conscious and environmentally sustainable. ADAM Architecture won a Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the 2026 CNU Charter Awards.
    Nansledan is an extension of the town of Newquay in Cornwall, UK, restoring a sustainable, efficient pattern of growth, in keeping with the original settlement. Newquay refers to a “new quay” that was built on the north Cornwall coast in 1439—so the town of 24,000 people has sustained itself for...Read more

  • Downtown transformed by new streetscape and park

    Basalt Downtown Streetscape & River Park has renewed a struggling historic Colorado mining town. Connect One Design won a Merit Award in the Block, Street, and Building category of the 2026 CNU Charter Awards.
    A streetscape and park project revitalized the economically struggling downtown of a historic Colorado mining community while engaging the town’s history and culture. The Basalt Downtown Streetscape & River Park overcame controversy and a mid-project special referendum to create accessible...Read more