• Providence freeway has a future

    The good news: The highway will be improved. The bad news: The boulevard idea is officially dead.
    While working on CNU’s upcoming semi-annual Freeways Without Futures report, we learned that one of the candidate highways, the 6-10 Connector in Providence RI, now has a future. The highway that divides a half dozen neighborhoods in West Providence will be rebuilt, according to a compromise plan...Read more

  • Street trees are essential for Walk Appeal

    Trees should be planted either in swales (on primarily residentail streets) or in tree wells (on Main Streets). Do not listen to “urban foresters,” who insist that trees must be planted in landscape beds large enough for their mature drip lines.
    Street trees are essential for strong Walk Appeal almost anywhere in the US, which makes them a fundamental part of the public frontage, which extends from the property line to the edge of the street. We’ll talk about other public frontage parts later, but street trees are so important that they...Read more

  • 'Urban' is bigger than it appears

    A "new analytic framework" by the Urban Land Institute ignores walkability and sets back our understanding of cities and suburbs.
    ULI released a report this month, Housing in the Evolving American Suburb , which found that suburbs are grabbing more than 90 percent of metropolitan growth. The report is based on a "new analytic framework" to parse what is urban and what is suburban. ULI's sorting system is often hard to...Read more

  • Rebuilding a victim of urban renewal

    The Mercado District takes its urban design and architecture cues from Tucson's historic adobe neighborhoods.
    The Mercado District, once leveled by urban renewal, is fast becoming one of Tucson’s most significant hubs. The district takes its urban design and architecture cues from the city's historic adobe neighborhoods. The city's few historic neighborhoods that remain have recently come back to life—and...Read more