• The office market transformation and how it will impact cities

    As a result of long-term trends and COVID impacts, many cities are experiencing the conversion of office structures to alternative uses. Concerns about vacancies are valid, yet cities stand to benefit in many ways.
    As the world moves beyond COVID-19, cities are impacted by the “work from home” transformation and other workplace changes. Many questions remain about how cities will function and adjust to a new workplace “normal.” The rapidly shifting office environment affects some of the most important North...Read more

  • The case for incremental development

    Lessons from Vancouver.
    Last November, Patrick Condon spoke somberly to a crowd of journalists in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He seemed defeated. He’d lost all hope. Condon teaches sustainable urban design at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. As he explained, much of his life’s work had been spent advocating...Read more

  • Grand boulevards would solve the housing crisis, Calthorpe says

    Redeveloping commercial corridors, using policies like AB 2011 in California, enables new housing at a scale big enough to eliminate the housing shortage in the US without displacement, argues a CNU founder.
    Redeveloping commercial corridors into mixed-use urban places could solve the housing crisis, according to Peter Calthorpe, CNU cofounder and urban designer with HDR. “As of right” zoning was adopted for 8 million housing units—two million “market feasible”—on thoroughfares lined with retail,...Read more

  • Build the city, but for whom?

    While CNU moves on from its stint in Cincinnati, those who attended CNU 32 are inspired to continue their work locally, as they always have.
    Note: this article first appeared in Soapbox Cincinnati . This past May, national nonprofit the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) held their annual flagship event in Cincinnati. The event gathered 1,454 total attendees from across the country (and world) to share ideas and inspiration about urban...Read more