• Michigan community considers billion-dollar mall redevelopment

    Formerly the largest mall in the state, Lakeside Mall in Sterling Heights will see new life as a mixed-use City Center.
    What once was the site of Michigan’s largest shopping mall is set to undergo a massive transformation into a mixed-use town center. In November 2022, the Sterling Heights City Council passed a memorandum of understanding with Out of the Box Ventures, a subsidiary of the Florida based investment...Read more

  • Regional networks and local character: CNU33 explores Providence

    The 33rd annual Congress for the New Urbanism will explore national and international planning issues like housing and climate change through the lens of New England’s cities and towns.
    Every planner and urbanist we’ve met has been filled with a strong sense of wanderlust and often grew up, went to school, got a job, and settled in different parts of the United States or the world. But there’s something about New England that transforms restless explorers—including urbanists—into...Read more

  • Trails, greens, and housing trending for retrofit

    Williamson and Dunham-Jones explain what's hot in reforming suburbs on CNU’s On the Park Bench.
    The suburban built environment has symbolized America since the 1950s, and it desperately needs an upgrade. Many malls, commercial strips, and office parks are struggling or dying, unable to compete with the Internet and hurt by remote work. Architectural professors June Williamson and Ellen Dunham...Read more

  • Why build a stoop or porch?

    Urbanists emphasize front-entry features like stoops and porches, which appear prominently in form-based codes—whereas they are less important or rarely mentioned in conventional zoning. Urbanists place high importance on frontage features because they transition people from the public to the...Read more