• Conventional suburban versus hamlet design

    The conventional suburban site plan above left was drawn for a hilltop site in a large development project. Charlotte architect and urban planner Tom Low, director of Civic By Design , created the alternative New Urbanism plan of a hamlet. The idea is to develop a series of interconnected hilltop...Read more

  • Citizen revolt preserves 2,000-year-old waterway

    Score one for historic preservation when a canal in use for two millennia was saved from being filled in to create a road and instead planned as a unique public space.
    The 7.4-mile-long Canal Nacional served as the main transportation waterway during the construction of Mexico City more than 2,000 years ago, and since then has been a conduit of vital supplies, from food to construction materials. It is the oldest linear park in the city—a rich ecosystem that is...Read more

  • Public space is downtown gateway

    A "pop up" park has evolved into a major downtown Detroit square that is anchoring a neighborhood revitalization.
    Located on the west side of Detroit’s Central Business District, Beacon Park was created to anchor an emerging district, spur economic growth within the neighborhood, and provide a high-quality gathering space for Detroiters and beyond. Beacon Park was conceived and built by DTE, a utility company...Read more

  • Form-based codes rise again

    There are now 738 codes that meet the criteria for form-based codes, according to Emily Talen, Hazel Borys, and Matt Lambert, the team that keeps tracks of these codes on a website called The Codes Study . Of those codes, 439 are adopted. It's been a couple of years since the last update, when The...Read more