• Competing against suburbia

    Why New Urbanism hasn’t caught on more as a reliable model of development and two potential solutions to this problem.
    If urbanists, academics, and planners agree that New Urbanism and Traditional Neighborhood Developments (TNDs) are the best form of residential development, why are so few projects actually being built? For the past three years, I have been working as a partner alongside my dad as we design,...Read more

  • 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