• New neighborhood connects city to university

    The Eddy Street Neighborhood is a mixed-use infill development in South Bend featuring a main street and many housing types. Looney Ricks Kiss won a Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the 2024 CNU Charter Awards.
    In a public-private partnership, a developer worked with University of Notre Dame, a local revitalization group, and the City of South Bend to create a new 48-acre neighborhood. The Eddy Street Neighborhood “was a partnership in the truest sense,” says Tom McGowan of Kite Realty Group. “We may have...Read more

  • From industrial lot to urban wellness village

    Casa de Luz is a community-driven, health-oriented urban village on the site of a former meatpacking plant in Austin, Texas. Shambala Corp. won a Merit Award in the Block, Street, and Building category in the 2024 CNU Charter Awards.
    Casa de Luz is a case study that teaches the value of thinking differently about health, food, parking, and community building. Although the project covers less than an acre, it has an outsized impact on the City of Austin, Texas. “The unlikely story of how a health-oriented restaurant transformed...Read more

  • Using neighborhood DNA to catalyze urban regeneration

    Back to Better is a series of interventions planned for the Near Northwest in South Bend, Indiana. Students at the University of Notre Dame won a Student Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the 2024 CNU Charter Awards.
    University of Notre Dame architecture students met with neighbors and stakeholders to propose design guidelines for regenerating the high-vacancy Near Northwest Neighborhood (NNN). Back to Better: An Urban Conservation and Regeneration Plan for South Bend's Near Northwest Neighborhood would fill “...Read more

  • Is ‘guerrilla urbanism’ an appropriate term?

    Various interpretations of the term “guerrilla” sparks debate over its meaning and use within urbanism.
    In a recent “ On the Park Bench ” conversation, we tackled the concept of Guerrilla Urbanism, sparking a spirited debate. Angela Puerta, a city planner from Madison, Wisconsin, with roots in Colombia, challenged the session’s title head-on. She argued that the term "guerrilla" carries deeply...Read more