• Better streets are worth fighting for

    Sadik-Khan's approach is both radical and practical. Instead of relying on traffic "models" that are rarely tested against reality, she made changes with temporary materials that could be reversed if the benefits failed to materialize.
    Janette Sadik-Khan, author of the recent Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution and former New York City transportation commissioner, gave an inspiring speech to CNU in Detroit on Friday. The speech was not officially recorded on video, but here I offer her 2013 Ted video that has been...Read more

  • Announcing the 2016 Charter Award Winners

    "The 2016 Grand Prize went to Brush Park Parcels A+B, a neighborhood development project adjacent to downtown Detroit that combined historic preservation, human-scaled design, and cutting-edge architecture."
    Last week at #CNU24 in Detroit, we unveiled the winners of our 15th annual Charter Awards —the year’s greatest achievements in architectural, landscape, urban, and regional design. Among the eleven winners and six runners-up were a jazz cultural center in New Orleans, a military barracks turned...Read more

  • Detroit's hope in neighborhood revival

    Detroit wrote the history of the motor vehicle age in America, and Detroit is one of the most automobile-oriented cities in America. Yet less than 50 percent of the adults in Detroit own a car. That fact says a lot about how Detroit has failed, and where the city is heading in the future. Detroit’s...Read more

  • CNU 24 Daily Wrap-Up for Tuesday, June 7

    New Urbanists arrive in Detroit from across the world for #CNU24
    Today, CNU 24 officially begins in Detroit, MI. Thousands of New Urbanists have traveled by plane, train, bus, bike, and foot from across the world for a Congress experience built right into the heart of Motor City, USA. Every day this week, here at Public Square: A CNU Journal , we'll collect the...Read more