• Reconnecting Communities with federal financing

    CNU’s biennial Freeways Without Futures report is out now! In a series of articles, Public Square is exploring common threads from the report. Article two focuses on Reconnecting Communities financing.
    This year’s report is the first to coincide with acknowledgment from the federal government of the inequitable and harmful impacts of urban highway construction. Financing for the first round of funding through the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program awarded $185 million in grants to 45 projects...Read more

  • What does government support for highway removal look like?

    CNU’s biennial Freeways Without Futures report is out now! In a series of articles, Public Square is exploring common threads from the report. Article one focuses on how government supports local campaigns.
    Freeways Without Futures highlights the efforts of local campaign organizers and activists seeking to revitalize their communities by dismantling the city highways that burden them with the significant health hazards of vehicle exhaust, a loss of local businesses and services, and streets that are...Read more

  • Community plan builds on success of food kitchen

    A team of new urbanists design for a neighborhood in the crosshairs of gentrification, adding healthy food and affordable housing.
    Building on a successful nonprofit food kitchen, the Highland neighborhood in Gastonia, North Carolina, is planning to grow in a healthy and walkable way as gentrification pressure mounts. Located northwest of downtown, Highland is home to 5,000 mostly African-American residents. A team of new...Read more

  • Creating a mixed-use college town in an ‘edge city’

    CNU and affiliated designers visited a sprawling part of Charlotte to plan the transition of a 16-acre shopping center into a mixed-use center, with connections to a major university—UNCC. Temporary public space drives suburban retrofit.
    The challenge for University City in Charlotte is two-fold: Finding a way to humanize a classic ‘edge city’ while providing an off-campus gathering space for a major research university, University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC). By focusing on the public realm first, a team of designers have...Read more