• Placemaking is going places: 20 years of transportation-related award winners

    From transit-oriented development to Tactical Urbanism, transportation themes have resounded through the first two decades of the CNU Charter Awards.
    The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) Charter Awards, which highlight the best in urban design in the United States and around the world, have celebrated good interdisciplinary design since 2001. As the Charter Awards head into their 20th year, a reflection on some of our past awards shows how...Read more

  • Hard lessons of disaster and recovery

    In the wake of Hurricane Dorian, which destroyed much that was good in The Bahamas, it is worth reviewing the lessons from recent natural disasters on how to build to last and recover local culture and economies.
    I spent most of my life inland before moving to Miami Beach in 2003. Where I grew up, the main disaster threats were tornadoes, which are exceptionally violent, sudden, and focused. Within 60 seconds of the warning being issued for the Airport Road tornado November 15, 1989, close to a dozen people...Read more

  • Tools for Building Local Strength

    Earlier this year CNU released a report called Building Local Strength that focused on how to revitalize severely disinvested neighborhoods in ways that minimize displacement of, and maximize opportunity for, legacy residents. This is a complex problem that requires the creative thinking and...Read more

  • Savannah adopts two CNU Legacy projects and a downtown plan

    The city made progress with code reform and is moving forward with street improvements and new public spaces, including the possible transformation of a dead mall.
    A little over a year after CNU 26 in Savannah , Georgia, that city’s council formally supported two CNU “legacy projects” and adopted a new downtown plan. Legacy Projects are launched each year to leave an enduring mark on the host city and region of the annual CNU Congress—and the Savannah...Read more