• City of hope

    Detroit’s real renaissance is now happening in many small places, not the few big ones. Walk around Brush Park, Lower Woodward, and Midtown, and you’ll find all sorts of cool stuff popping up.
    Detroit has lost all that it’s going to lose. The city has clearly turned the corner. If you didn’t get those ruin porn shots you wanted, it’s far too late now; the ruined mansions in Brush Park have either been demolished if they were too far gone, or are now being renovated. New construction...Read more

  • Old buildings are made for you and me

    From California to the New York Islands—more business activity, affordability, and diversity can be found in neighborhoods with a range of old and new buildings.
    In a historic assets study of unprecedented scale, the National Trust for Historic Preservation looked at 50 cities in the US, examining more than 10 million buildings of all ages. Old buildings, and a diversity of scale and ages of buildings in a neighborhood, translate to more jobs and affordable...Read more

  • Violent protests mar Portland’s essential blueprint

    In the Pearl District, a place designed for human movement and a model of affordable urban renaissance, miscreants with bricks and bats fueled Donald Trump’s incendiary charge that our “inner cities are in crisis.”
    Thursday night, the rush of noise funneling down the Pearl District’s Lovejoy Avenue sounded like the gusts of a hurricane’s outer bands. The crescendo built as voices harmonized with the storm of feet moving past my residence. The melodic chant stirred me, raising my hopes and emotions after a...Read more

  • Main Street Center as a model for sprawl retrofit

    Suburban areas in need of transformation often lack an oversight organization to join, providing a network of support.
    Note: This document is one of a series of tools created for Build a Better Burb, the Hub for Great Suburban Design. The Build a Better Burb website has been recently updated by CNU. The Problem Suburban areas in need of transformation often lack an oversight organization to join, providing a...Read more