• Green, redevelopment fills hole created by ‘urban renewal’

    A New England-style green creates the site for mixed-use and affordable housing at the center of a historic city.
    Meriden, Connecticut, tore down its industrial heart in the middle of the 20 th Century to build an enclosed shopping mall that soon failed, replaced by a strip mall that flooded, replaced by offices that were flooded and demolished. The series of fiascos at the center of this city of 60,000,...Read more

  • A call to rethink dying houses of worship

    The US may see 100,000 churches close, and this issue could help determine the success or failure of many downtowns and neighborhoods over the next three to four decades. The skills of urbanists are needed.
    Rome, Georgia, features steeple after steeple defining its skyline. Its tourist map for Rome depicts 15 houses of worship in its six-block long, four-block-wide Downtown area alone. The church properties take up a substantial portion of developable land downtown. Like cities nationwide, most of...Read more

  • Freeway fighting tide has turned

    The halting of three in-city freeway expansions highlights a new momentum on reversing the damage of highways through urban areas.
    The tide is turning on in-city freeways—but the movement to reverse course on these thoroughfares is just gaining momentum. In recent weeks, three highway expansion projects across the US have run into roadblocks or ended entirely. Oregon DOT (ODOT) declined to defend its environmental review to...Read more

  • Louisville creek restoration funded, subject of CNU Legacy Project

    CNU Legacy Projects have addressed widely diverse urban issues, and Beargrass Creek in Louisville is more distinct than most. The 2019 project , led by Gresham Smith , looked at a neglected urban waterway and how its restoration could impact 14 diverse neighborhoods. Legacy Projects, intended to...Read more