• The new urban Christian connection: A Detroit networking invitation

    CNU has a vital toolkit that Christian community workers badly need to provide solutions to the problems they face in cities and neighborhoods.
    I’m not ashamed to admit it. I love CNU, warts and all—the people, the charter, the commitment, the restless pushing of intellectual and professional boundaries as we square up to changing realities and new challenges. We’re a scrappy bunch. I like that. But we have heart too. Real places have a...Read more
  • Park Van Ness DC exterior day

    A gift of nature and architecture

    Park Van Ness has remarkable details—and opens up a view from a major thoroughfare to a major urban park.
    This beautiful Art Deco building is a striking addition to a major urban thoroughfare, terminating a vista at the end of a cross street with a grand, two-story archway that leads into a 5,000-square-foot public plaza overlooking an important urban park in DC. It's not often that a building like...Read more

  • Genuine change or lipstick on a pig?

    A well-known new urban project has begun to reshape the relentless sprawl around it, but communities shouldn't wait for that to happen.
    A criticism of Silicon Valley planning, housing, and community culture led to a critique last week of Santana Row , a prominent new urbanist development in San Jose, California. Santana Row is better than the usual Silicon Valley sprawl, but does it represent real progress—or is it merely dressing...Read more

  • Harnessing civil engineering for placemaking and preservation

    Harvey and Irma point out the need to think deeply about resilience to major storms in the era of climate change.
    In Newport, Rhode Island, the tide is rising. Local sea levels at high tide have risen eight inches in the past 75 years, threatening neighborhoods like The Point, which combines history, charm, and walkability in a way that is unique and irreplaceable. Neighborhoods in Newport’s flood zones...Read more