• 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

  • How to get by-right zoning right

    The Form-Based Coding process ensures that the discussion about where and what type of housing to allow happens at a community level, rather than on a project-by-project basis.
    By-right zoning is getting a lot of buzz these days as a needed tool to help solve the affordable housing crisis many communities are facing. For those unfamiliar, a zoning code is considered “by-right” if the approvals process is streamlined so that projects that comply with the zoning standards...Read more

  • How to create a bottom-up coalition for change

    Building a Better Burb can sometimes fall victim to raw politics unless public officials see grassroots support.
    Note: This document is one of a series of tools created for Build a Better Burb, the Hub for Great Suburban Design. The series emerged from the Build a Better Burb Sprawl Retrofit Council in Miami, Florida, in March, 2016—an event aimed at expanding transportation choice, sense of place, and...Read more

  • Traditional cities are having a big decade

    Strong demand for historic downtowns and neighborhoods brings a surge of population at a level not seen in 70 years.
    Traditional American cities like Seattle, New Orleans, New York City, and Philadelphia are growing this decade at a rate that they haven’t seen since the 1940s, according to a Public Square analysis. The 25 largest traditional cities gained 3.8 percent in population in the first half of this decade...Read more