• Accessory Commercial Units: Reintroducing retail to neighborhoods

    Accessory Commercial Units (ACUs), an affordable alternative to prime commercial space, could equitably establish retail destinations that people need in close proximity to where they live.
    Note: This is the first of a two-part series exploring Accessory Commercial Units, business spaces that attach to residential units, often in largely residential neighborhoods, and how they fit into the toolkit of Incremental Urbanism. For years in the City of Portland, Oregon, the bicycle network...Read more

  • Parklets jump-start neighborhood main street

    The 75th Street Boardwalk in Chicago, Illinois, was created to activate economic and social activity during Covid. Site design group won a 2021 CNU Charter Award in the Block, Street, and Building category.
    The 75 th Street Boardwalk is a series of temporary community built parklets and civic structures along two blocks of the main street of Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood. The parklets, located in street parking spaces on both sides of the thoroughfare, feature play structures, workout equipment,...Read more

  • Setting the standard for main street transformation

    Lancaster BLVD in Lancaster, California, changed the way we think about creating “sense of place” in a busy downtown thoroughfare. Moule & Polyzoides won a 2021 CNU Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category.
    “Lancaster BLVD changed the way we think about boulevards,” notes Andrew Von Maur, professor of architecture at Andrews University and a 2021 Charter Awards juror. “It also changed the way we think about parking.” This strikingly original street redesign had an enormous economic impact on Lancaster...Read more

  • Federal and state code reform heats up

    Significant programs and legislation may set the stage for local code reform across the US, enabling better places.
    Six months ago, Public Square reported on state and city code reform efforts to allow missing middle housing types and reduce exclusive single-family zoning. Those efforts are gaining momentum in federal and state government—even as CNU is stepping up its Project for Code Reform (PCR), which has...Read more