• From unsafe arterial to thriving main street

    CNU and affiliated designers work with a community to identify implementation solutions for a disinvested urban corridor west of Charlotte’s Center City.
    Currently, West Boulevard in Charlotte is anything but a safe and comfortable walk. A narrow sidewalk directly abuts travel lanes where traffic goes 50 miles per hour. There are no street trees or parked cars to buffer pedestrians. Those on foot sense constant danger. The alternative vision is a...Read more

  • Meet the 2023 Climate & Equity Challenge projects

    These three projects represent different and inspired approaches to addressing the pressing issues of climate and equity.
    At CNU 30 in Oklahoma City, New Urbanists launched the Climate & Equity Challenge to engage all our members, chapters, affiliates and allies to meet the most pressing issues of our time: the climate emergency and the equity imperative. The Challenge was intended as a way for our members,...Read more

  • Community led plan for bottom-up revitalization

    WeCollab is a community led initiative to revitalize adjacent neighborhoods in St. Louis, Missouri. YARD & Company won a Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the CNU 2023 Charter Awards.
    It is now standard practice to conduct extensive public outreach in neighborhood planning. WeCollab in the St. Louis neighborhoods of West End and Visitation Park took this idea further—citizens became part of the consulting team to rebuild their own community. This effort lays the groundwork to...Read more

  • May the Charter be with you

    May 4 is the anniversary of two important historical events, both taking place on the East Coast of the US, eighty years apart, that have helped shape modern planning and urbanism for the better around the world. Only the first occurrence is widely recognized. I may be the only person, actually,...Read more