• The next great urban reset

    Sometime this century—perhaps in the next decade—America will be physically repurposed in a new urban form that is different from sprawl or 19th Century gridded towns. Is CNU ready to lead when that happens?
    Note: A session on the next "great urban reset" will be held at CNU 26.Savannah on Thursday, May 17. Urban resets are pretty rare in history but once in a century or two they appear. When the old system finally implodes, ideas lurking under the previous system are finally able to rise to the top to...Read more

  • Affordable housing through philanthropy

    Transit-oriented project provides housing for public employees next to public housing in buildings inspired by the District's successful vernacular patterns.
    On the East bank of the Anacostia River, just a few miles from the US Capitol, Pollin Memorial brings a historically sensitive approach to affordable development in Washington, DC. Serving one of the country’s most challenged urban neighborhoods, the project has provided 83 for-sale townhouses to...Read more

  • L’Enfant’s sacred design for Washington DC

    Pierre L’Enfant created the physical framework for a resilient, dynamic, and sometimes disorienting city—now the hidden celestrial meaning behind the patterns is finally revealed.
    To the extent anyone thinks about the layout and pattern of streets in Washington DC (and really, who doesn’t?), the common perception is that there are two systems at work. First, a basic grid arrangement of streets running north-south and east-west, and a second wheel-and-spoke pattern of avenues...Read more

  • Grand plaza highlights history

    A dilapidated former municipal building, embodying decades of history in the historic Mexican city of San Cristobal, has been converted into a civic museum complete with an elegant and dignified new plaza. “Making the City Hall a museum was an extraordinary shift,” says Susana Utrilla, cultural...Read more