• Comprehensive redesign makes city more livable

    Project 180 transformed the fabric of Oklahoma City’s downtown. OJB Landscape Architecture and Speck & Associates won a Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of CNU's 2022 Charter Awards.
    Oklahoma City reversed a half century of automobile-centric street planning in a comprehensive makeover of its downtown public realm in the last decade. A public-private partnership, Project 180, redesigned every downtown street. In Jeff Speck’s plan for the 50-block downtown core, the one-way...Read more

  • Bold campaign for highway removal

    Re-Envision Albany is a compelling vision to transform an unnecessary freeway into a boulevard with green space and equitable development. Albany Riverfront Collaborative won a Merit Award in the Emerging Project category of CNU's 2022 Charter Awards.
    For more than 50 years, residents of Albany, New York, have endured the effects of I-787, an elevated freeway that divides the city from its waterfront and neighborhood from neighborhood with a massive access road and imposing on-ramps. Past initiatives to remove the highway have gotten nowhere,...Read more

  • Setting a whole new pattern for rural growth

    Carlton Landing, a traditional neighborhood development that is its own municipality, is transforming a rural Oklahoma region. DPZ CoDESIGN won a Merit Award in The Region: Metropolis, City, and Town category of CNU's 2022 Charter Awards.
    Carlton Landing is the first new urban town in the US to be legally incorporated, an important milestone. The rural Oklahoma community is focused on green design and self-sufficiency—The independent mindset comes from its remote location 20 miles from the nearest Interstate, and a one-to-two-hour...Read more

  • Transit-oriented model for economic development in the suburbs

    The Blue Line Corridor sets the stage for substantial transit-oriented suburban retrofit in a growing region. HR&A Advisors and Design Collective won a Merit Award in The Region: Metropolis, City, and Town category of CNU's 2022 Charter Awards.
    Note: Public Square editor Robert Steuteville is on leave from late September through the last week of October, 2022. In the meantime, we are offering some popular articles from 2022 in addition to new content. Economic development goals in Prince George’s County, Maryland—the largest predominantly...Read more