• Strategies for project review under a form-based code

    While many cities and towns have determined that they need not have additional project review for development that conforms with the code, others are establishing or streamlining project review systems.
    Form Based Codes (FBCs) allow communities to implement a plan for quality placemaking with a by-right development code, instead of a complicated discretionary design review process. Communities are selecting form-based codes to replace conventional zoning in downtowns and neighborhood centers, not...Read more

  • Placemaking vs. placeshaking

    Writing about successful neighborhood planning, my friend and colleague Howard Blackson used the term “placeshaker” as a catch-all for the grass roots engagement efforts that empower, but don’t necessarily define, placemaking. That got me thinking. Even though our firm is called PlaceMakers and our...Read more

  • A mixed-use center for town and gown

    The redevelopment of a suburban commercial strip area across from UConn has made Mansfield, Connecticut, a better place.
    For a town with a major educational institution—the University of Connecticut—Mansfield was surprisingly short of urban amenities until a few years ago. “Mansfield,” noted Connecticut Magazine , “offered little more than a couple of fading strip malls and a dilapidated restaurant along the...Read more

  • The burbs are the next urban frontier

    This weekend in Miami, the Congress for the New Urbanism is staging one of the periodic Councils it uses to focus perspectives and best practices on topics of growing concern to CNU members and fellow travelers. This one is all about building “a Better Burb.” The idea, says CNU CEO Lynn Richards,...Read more