CNU 34 offers over 30 opportunities to explore urbanism in the region by foot, bike, bus, scooter, and boat! Check out the tour descriptions, timing, and price below then head over to our registration site to grab them Tour capacities are limited and first-come, first-served. All tours will offer CEUs, which will be updated on this page.
Tuesday, 5/12/26
Let them Eat! A Deep Dive into the local Food Systems in NWA (CNU34T10)
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM | Bus and Walking | $85
This full-day bus tour explores Northwest Arkansas’s vibrant local food network and its growing impact on community health, contextual placemaking, and regional resilience. Beginning at 8th Street Market and Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food in Bentonville, participants will see how culinary education and creative entrepreneurship converge to shape a sustainable food culture. The tour continues to Springdale’s Market Center of the Ozarks, Arkansas Food Innovation Center, and Spring Creek Food Hub, showcasing regional distribution and value-added production that support local growers. In Fayetteville, enjoy a chef-prepared lunch at Appleseeds Teaching Farm, where educational gardens and outdoor kitchens foster food literacy. The day concludes at Cobblestone Farms, a nonprofit community farm addressing food insecurity through regenerative agriculture—illustrating how local food systems nourish both people and reinforce an authentic sense of place.
E. Fay Jones: Fayetteville Homes Designed by the 1990 AIA Gold Medalist (CNU34T13)
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM | Bus and Walking | $85
Explore the enduring influence of Arkansas native E. Fay Jones, FAIA, apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright and one of America’s most celebrated architects. Jones was a leading figure among midcentury regional modernists who captured a rootedness in place through a modernist vocabulary that retained traditional architectural principles. The tour, led by an architect who worked with Jones, will focus on Jones’ vocabulary in shaping space through natural light, native materials, interlocking masonry and wood construction systems, interior and exterior relationships, and simplicity in open plan organization. His houses shaped the architectural identity of the Fayetteville area. This bus and walking tour will visit Jones’ personal residence, and several other key homes in Fayetteville as well as those on dramatic rural hillside sites.
Explore Eureka Springs (CNU34T23)
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM | Bus and Walking | $85
With an entire downtown on the National Register and not a single traffic light, historic Eureka Springs remains a jewel of 19th century architecture built on a steep, limestone ridge. This casual, day-long tour, is an opportunity for attendees to experience the city without much structure - walking the winding, non-grid network of streets developed incrementally to accommodate the steep landscape and engaging in discussion with fellow new urbanists about the unique architecture. Led by Victor Dover, this tour will be an exploration of what makes Eureka Springs unique, including a stop at Thorncrown Chapel, with plenty of opportunities for casual conversation and side quests.
Connecting NWA: Razorback Regional Greenway Square to Square (CNU34T24)
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM | Biking | $85
A two decade long commitment from multiple jurisdictions, the Razorback Regional Greenway has catapulted NWA into a leader in Active Transportation Planning. The Greenway's success began with an idea of culture and equity, and its influence and momentum has snowballed, creating a biking mecca in this small corner of Arkansas. This greenway was one (if not THE) first step to the local community thinking about planning regionally, and recognizing that what was once five very individual cities, could become a coherent regional area, now known as Northwest Arkansas. This 24-mile bicycle tour offers the opportunity to fully experience this active transportation investment that has changed the mindset, and the future, of NWA.
Illinois River Float: Exploring the Balance Between Conservation and Recreation (CNU34T27)
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM | Bus, Walking, and River Touring | $85
As Northwest Arkansas urbanizes, conflicts between natural stream functioning and urban infrastructure arise. Outdoor recreation continues to be among the top five contributors to the state’s economy and is still a growing industry throughout Arkansas. While NWA’s recent biking investments and culture have captured national attention, river recreation has been popular for generations as a powerful driver of multi-sport excursions. Water quality is the thread that connects well-being in urban environments with ecological functioning in wild and scenic waterways.
Note: This tour will include walking, discussion, and a 5 mile float via kayak. Attendees should have experience in a kayak or similarly sized river craft and be prepared to potentially get wet.
Fayetteville Mountain Bike Ride: Traverse Trail (CNU34T32)
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM | Biking | $95
This guided mountain bike tour delivers an immersive ride along the Fayetteville Traverse Trail, highlighting how a world-class singletrack is woven directly into the urban fabric in Northwest Arkansas. The ride begins on the Fayetteville Square and transitions to the University of Arkansas campus, where the Fayetteville Traverse Trail seamlessly connects academic spaces, student housing, and natural landscapes—demonstrating a national model for campus-integrated trail design. From there, riders continue to Centennial Park, a flagship destination known for progressive trail features, event-ready infrastructure, and its role in elevating the region’s mountain biking profile. The tour concludes at Kessler Mountain Regional Park, where rugged terrain, forested climbs, and scenic overlooks showcase conservation-forward planning and public land stewardship. Throughout the ride, participants will explore how strategic trail investment supports recreation as well as economic development and quality of life—positioning Northwest Arkansas as a national leader in outdoor-driven community design.
Note: This is a true mountain bike ride, not an introduction or casual cruise. Riders should be comfortable handling an e-MTB for 10–12 miles on blue-rated trails, including sustained climbs, descents, and technical features. If you’re not sure what “blue trail” means, this ride is probably not a good fit. Riders are expected to be fit, experienced, and fully self-sufficient on a mountain bike.
30 Years of New Urbanism in NWA: Har-Ber Meadows and Johnson Square (CNU34T01)
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM | Bus and Walking | $65
Visit Har-Ber Meadows, the first Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) in NWA, originally founded in 1997 on the outskirts of Springdale. Explore hits and misses, from public spaces and mature streetscapes, neighborhood schools, street layout and architecture, to (lack of) a mixed-use neighborhood center. From Har-Ber Meadows, travel by bus to Johnson Square, the latest TND in NWA, with thriving restaurants, offices, and housing as well floodplain habitat restoration well underway. Hear directly from the developer about work completed to-date as well as the third phase of development now underway, with a focus on additional employment center and entertainment.
Southyard, the Mill District, and Beyond: Exploring Fayetteville's Newest Mixed-Use Entertainment Neighborhood (CNU34T02)
1:00 PM - 4:30 PM | Walking | $35
As one of the state’s few ‘hill towns’, Fayetteville historically built its most valued development on its highest land, leaving rail spurs, warehouses, industry, and food production relegated to South Fayetteville. Explore recent transformation of this lowlying side of the city through its emerging neighborhoods, diverse housing innovations,and clever code hacks. The tour begins in the Mill District, where adaptive reuse guides context-sensitive infill. Visit Southyard, a former farmers food cooperative blending residential, retail, hospitality, and public space. Nearby, see a new 8-plex on South Washington Avenue and the colorful “Painted Babies” on 9th Street showcasing creative missing middle housing development. The tour concludes at the 11th Street Cottages, a pocket neighborhood demonstrating thoughtful density, craftsmanship, and livability in Fayetteville’s evolving urban fabric.
Wednesday, 5/13/26
Marlon Blackwell: Projects of the 2020 AIA Gold Medalist (CNU34T14)
8:00 AM - 1:00 PM | Bus and Walking | $85
This tour will explore the architecture of Marlon Blackwell, FAIA; a portfolio that includes a range of building typologies, scales, and budgets rooted in Ozark vernacular. Blackwell cites the notion of “radical simplicity” in the making of buildings and places as a constant, authentic focus, “an architecture in the place, of the place and for the place for anywhere and for anyone with dignity, wonder and joy.” Traveling by bus and foot throughout Northwest Arkansas cities, attendees will view globally acclaimed modern buildings such as the civic-scale transformation of Fayetteville High School, the sculptural Kennan Tower House, the elegantly crafted Blessings Golf Club, the Greek Orthodox Church, Harvey Pediatric Clinic, and the downtown Thaden School campus. The tour concludes at Bentonville’s Whole Health Institute and The Ledger, the world’s first bikeable office building—each reflecting Blackwell’s belief that architecture can be both deeply local and universally resonant.
Note: Exact buildings subject to availability at time of tour.
University of Arkansas: NWA's First Regional Institution (CNU34T15)
8:00 AM - 11:00 AM | Walking | $35
Dubbed the “Athens of the Ozarks”, Fayetteville has been home to many private, public, college, and seminary establishments since the mid-nineteenth century, most notably the state’s land grant university in 1872—the University of Arkansas. Explore the campus’ historic core with 25 buildings contributing to its designation on the National Register of Historic Places, based on the 1925 master plan by Jamieson & Spearl, the St. Louis firm that designed most of the buildings at Washington University. The Collegiate Gothic-style buildings overlook downtown from the hilltop with views of the Boston Mountains with the remainder of the academic campus stretching along the ridgeline and the athletic campus sitting in the valley below. The burgeoning 34,000-student campus features both revival and contemporary buildings designed over the last century by Fayetteville native E.D. Stone, Robert Stern, Machado Silvetti, Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck Architecture, Marlon Blackwell Architects, Miller Boskus Lack, John Milner Associates, and Charles Thompson.
Fayetteville Trail-Oriented Development & Campus Connectivity (CNU34T25)
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Biking | $65
Thirty years ago, conventional wisdom held that urban trails facing the backs of homeowners’ properties were conduits for crime. Discover how Fayetteville became a national model for trail integration and active mobility, where new development now seeks to face the trail. This biking tour highlights the city’s award-winning 100+ mile trail system, seamlessly connecting downtown, neighborhoods, parks, and the University of Arkansas campus, with the Razorback Greenway, a major multi-city investment that was inspired by Fayetteville’s early investments in trails. Participants will experience how complete streets, shared-use paths, and campus green corridors create a cohesive network that supports alternative transportation among students, residents, and visitors alike. Stops will showcase key design features, public art, and strategic redevelopment along the trail that link to campus gateways and mixed-use districts. Learn how bike-centric policies and community vision transformed Fayetteville into a Top 10 Best U.S. City for Bicycles, blending recreation, sustainability, and placemaking.
Scaling up Housing: Fayetteville’s Large-Scale Commercial Housing (CNU34T03)
9:00 AM - 2:00 PM | Bus and Walking | $85
This tour explores innovative housing projects that redefine sustainable urban living in Fayetteville. Stops include Adohi Hall—the University of Arkansas’s groundbreaking mass timber residence hall featuring state-of-the-art biophilic design. Their Eco Modern Flats, a LEED Platinum-certified redevelopment of a once low-end apartment development pioneered place making amenities and energy-efficient housing retrofits in a nationally award-winning project. Bear Claw/Cardinal Housing showcases large courtyard housing developments adjacent to the university, which fit in with their neighborhoods. Uptown Apartments and Shops, a mixed-use infill exemplifies sprawl repair near the region’s suburban shopping mall. These projects illustrate collectively Modus Studio’s work in bridging architecture, sustainability, and urban context to elevate everyday living in reshaping Fayetteville’s housing landscape.
Exploring Downtown Fayetteville – from the Square to the Ramble (and Back Again!) (CNU34T04)
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Walking | $35
Explore recent housing, mixed-use, and public space projects in Fayetteville’s downtown district with long-time New Urbanists—architect Rob Sharp and code writer Mary Madden, former and current Fayetteville Planning Commissioners, respectively. The downtown has several distinct neighborhood geographies, having both a town square and a main street, while the University of Arkansas borders the downtown’s western edge. The tour will see a variety of infill projects completed over the past 20 years, fulfilling the key goals of the 2004 Downtown Master Plan (an effort led by Dover Kohl & Partners.) The tour will consider the relationship between recent ordinance changes (governing parking, land development, and building construction) and key public investments, in enabling, encouraging, or obstructing mixed-use residential development in downtown. In addition to viewing some adaptive re-use and streetscape improvements, tour highlights will include visits to several of Sharp’s mixed-use projects throughout the downtown district on Block Street, the Underwood Building, the Three Sisters, and the Network Building, the latter operating at net-zero energy.
More than a Co-Op, a way of life: Ozark Natural Foods and Farms (CNU34T09)
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Walking | $35
Of the 165 retail grocery cooperatives estimated to be operating in the US, Fayetteville’s Ozark Natural Foods (ONF) is the only one in the state of Arkansas. ONF is a member-owned and -governed grocery store specializing in local organic and all-natural products dedicated to healthful living and sustainability. The store supports a constellation of local farmers, giving them the confidence to pursue local and alternative growing models that fulfill ONF’s mission. The tour will emphasize the relationship between compact urban development patterns and local food sources by exploring the local food supply chain from the store to a nonprofit urban farm (AppleSeeds), a downtown commercial urban farm (Reagan Family Farm), and a downtown adjacent commercial urban farm (Cobblestone Farm). The tour also offers the opportunity to enjoy this thriving downtown “third place,” with ONF’s popular front porch, Fayetteville’s best!
The University of Arkansas Art and Design District: Spaces for the Humanities (CNU34T11)
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM | Walking | $35
This new off-campus district is designed to bring together art, architecture, design, and education, on MLK Boulevard in south Fayetteville. The district serves both the university and the broader community through galleries, maker spaces and outreach functions. A walking tour of buildings by internationally acclaimed architects—Grafton Architects, winner of the 2020 Pritzker Prize (architecture’s Nobel Prize), includes the Anthony Timberlands Center, the Studio + Design Center, the Sculpture Building, the upcoming Gallery + Foundations Building, and the UA Library Annex. The district is catalyzing new neighborhood development in this once industrial zone of Fayetteville, demonstrating that campus expansion can be effectively integrated into urban fabrics. The district is also important to the development of the arts ecosystem in Northwest Arkansas, including the attraction of nationally recognized educators.
The Ramble Walking Tour (CNU34T30)
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM | Walking | $35
The Ramble in Fayetteville is an excellent example of a linear trail “thickened” by components that transform a path into a place. Designed under the NWA Design Excellence Program, The Ramble is a 50-acre urban park spanning more than one-half mile linking Fayetteville’s main street (Dickinson) to the Mill District at the edge of downtown and the University of Arkansas’ Windgate Arts + Design District. Consisting of two sections: the Upper Ramble connects the Walton Arts Center, TheatreSquared, and the Public Library, through plazas, bridges, art installations, and performance spaces on wooded hillside sites. The Lower Ramble is Arkansas’ first SITES-certified project, emphasizing sustainable, beautiful, and functional landscape design that incorporates a state-of-the-art urban stream restoration of the Tanglewood Branch Creek and native flora restoration of a woodland ecosystem downtown.
Thursday, 5/14/26
Active Transportation: Exploring how Springdale embraced biking and walking to catalyze its revitalization (CNU34T26)
9:30 AM - 12:30 PM | Bus and Walking | $65
Explore the transformative impact of the Razorback Regional Greenway as it threads through Downtown Springdale, reshaping the city’s core into a vibrant, people-centered destination. Once dominated by through traffic, Emma Avenue now features improved streetscapes, wider sidewalks, landscaping, and bike connections that invite residents and visitors to linger and explore. Key stops on the tour include Shiloh Square, a revitalized civic plaza hosting markets and community events; Walter Turnbow Park, an inviting public space overlooking Spring Creek; and Mile 16, the symbolic midpoint of the 40-mile Greenway linking Northwest Arkansas’ cities. The corridor’s reinvention has catalyzed new mixed-use development, restaurants, housing, and creative workspaces—demonstrating how active transportation infrastructure can serve as a powerful catalyst for downtown revival, economic growth, and regional connectivity.
Walmart Home Office Campus: From Logistics to Architecture and Placemaking (CNU34T20-TH)
9:30 AM - 12:30 PM | Walking | $35
The new Walmart Home Office covers more than 400 acres in the heart of Bentonville, Arkansas. Thoughtfully designed as a connected and sustainable campus, it features six amenity buildings, 11 parking decks and 12 office buildings organized into distinct neighborhoods and constructed with sustainable materials—including 2.4 million square feet of mass timber. Over half of the campus is preserved as green space, with office and amenity buildings nestled among more than 750,000 plants, trees, and shrubs. The grounds also include over 13 acres of lakes and nearly seven miles of scenic walking and biking paths, creating a vibrant environment for work and well-being. This tour highlights the integration of architecture, urban landscapes, and mobility networks, creating a people-centered workplace that will become a new anchor to the surrounding community. Participants will experience the campus’s walkable layout, adaptive building forms, and emphasis on health, nature, and collaboration. Learn how Gensler, Walter P Moore , and other partners translated strategies in sustainability, mass timber construction, public space design, and multimodal connectivity to shape one of the more significant corporate campuses in the U.S.
Rogers Downtown Walking Tour (CNU34T05)
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM | Bus and Walking | $65
In the last ten years, downtown Rogers has been transformed from a small, sleepy downtown peppered with underutilized historic buildings into a 24/7 bustling district that features three James Beard nominated bars and restaurants, increased office and infill Missing Middle residential opportunities, and a multi-purpose Railyard Park that is a hub for community events as well as a hit with kids. This tour explores the beautiful bones and unique buildings that have been the driver of downtown Rogers’ revitalization, while providing opportunities to learn about the reinforcing efforts from private, public, and philanthropic sources that make this investment possible.
Cycling in the Land of Oz: Bentonville Biking Tour (CNU34T29)
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM | Biking | $65
Explore how public art and spaces have created a new identity for an unassuming, once sleepy hill town called Bentonville. Crystal Bridges and the Momentary are formal art spaces hosting concerts, exhibitions, and community events all within a walkable district. Osage and Coler Mountain Parks are cultural assets, created by open space preservation and outdoor recreation, working alongside each other and nestled in and around urban and commercial conditions. This bicycle tour will provide a glimpse into the balance of the built and wild environment that is core to the values shared across the region in NWA.
Thaden School, Bentonville: A Walkable Downtown School Campus . . . with a Barn (CNU34T22)
3:30 PM - 6:00 PM | Walking | $35
Discover the award-winning Thaden School campus in Bentonville, Arkansas—a national model for middle and high school design that integrates learning, landscape, and community. The 30-acre seven-building campus transforms a downtown edge into an innovative environment emphasizing interdisciplinary learning by doing education. The building's design accommodates the school’s unique curriculum featuring three signature programs: Wheels (construction of bicycles and other wheeled machines), Meals (the science and art of food), and Reels (media production of film and video). The campus’ productive landscape is a teaching tool for growing food, showcasing native ecosystems, and illustrating low impact development processes in managing urban stormwater runoff ecologically through rewilded landscapes. The tour highlights how architecture, ecology, and pedagogy converge to create a vibrant, walkable campus that reflects Bentonville’s evolving urban fabric and commitment to design excellence.
Friday, 5/15/26
Supply and Demand: Infill Housing in Downtown Bentonville (CNU34T06)
11:30 AM - 2:30 PM | Walking | $35
Demand for walkable, downtown living in Bentonville has risen significantly in recent years thanks in part to investments in the city’s pedestrian and bike infrastructure, an increased emphasis on public art, and the growth of the local dining scene, reflecting national trends towards car-free (or less car-dependent) living. This walking tour explores the various housing projects that are responding to this demand - both new, infill construction and those that leverage the rehabilitation of historic buildings - and gives the opportunity to explore the vibrant, evolving district as a whole.
The Impact of Infill: A Tour of Bentonville's Urban Shift (CNU34T07)
11:30 AM - 2:30 PM | Scooter | $65
This guided scooter tour follows the Razorback Greenway through Bentonville’s evolving urban landscape — from transitional neighborhoods in south Bentonville to the new Walmart Home Office campus, the Town Branch infill corridor, and downtown’s fully realized urban core. Participants will experience the continuum of change firsthand, exploring how trails, corporate investment, and public realm design are reshaping a once-suburban environment into a connected, human-scaled city. The tour highlights trail-oriented development, missing-middle housing opportunities, and how mobility infrastructure can anchor civic identity and sustainable growth.
Uptown Rogers: Retrofitting Suburbia (CNU34T08)
11:30 AM - 2:30 PM | Bus and Walking | $65
Explore the New Urbanism-based design solutions that initiated sprawl repair of an auto-dominant commercial district along I-49. Like all “edge cities”, Uptown Rogers concentrated single-use shopping centers, office parks, and entertainment complexes, in large parking lots along arterial highways for commuters. Retrofit solutions include insertion of a street network with walkable blocks and enhanced pedestrian facilities like those found in a traditional downtown. The tour will feature developments where missing middle housing is integrated with neighborhood-based retail and dining, along with other land uses in mixed-use development to reduce car dependency. Parks, trails, and other public gathering spaces are central to this new urban fabric. Design and planning solutions are supported by the City’s adoption of a new Unified Development Code in 2024 that includes simplified Transect-based zones enabling new and infill development that effectively transitions from existing neighborhoods to intense urban corridors and centers.
Alice Walton’s Cultural, Education and Wellness Development, and Place Making in Bentonville (CNU34T19)
11:30 AM - 5:00 PM | Bus and Walking | $65
One of the nation’s most impactful philanthropists, Alice Walton, combines investments in art, education, and health to build prosperity and well-being in the nation’s third poorest state. This tour explores the visionary Crystal Bridges campus and its four architecturally significant structures shaping Alice Walton’s cultural and wellness ecosystem in Northwest Arkansas. The tour will include the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, housing one of the country’s most significant collections of American art. The Heartland Whole Health Institute and the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine highlight wellness and health education in a state suffering the lowest health rankings nationwide. Serving these developments, the Campus Parking Complex demonstrates how mobility infrastructure can create great places. Together, these developments reveal an evolving regional vision, where art, health, and environment form a unified framework for human flourishing and community vitality.
Walmart Home Office Campus: From Logistics to Architecture and Placemaking (CNU34T20-F)
11:30 AM - 2:30 PM | Walking | $35
The new Walmart Home Office covers more than 400 acres in the heart of Bentonville, Arkansas. Thoughtfully designed as a connected and sustainable campus, it features six amenity buildings, 11 parking decks and 12 office buildings organized into distinct neighborhoods and constructed with sustainable materials—including 2.4 million square feet of mass timber. Over half of the campus is preserved as green space, with office and amenity buildings nestled among more than 750,000 plants, trees, and shrubs. The grounds also include over 13 acres of lakes and nearly seven miles of scenic walking and biking paths, creating a vibrant environment for work and well-being. This tour highlights the integration of architecture, urban landscapes, and mobility networks, creating a people-centered workplace that will become a new anchor to the surrounding community. Participants will experience the campus’s walkable layout, adaptive building forms, and emphasis on health, nature, and collaboration. Learn how Gensler, Walter P Moore , and other partners translated strategies in sustainability, mass timber construction, public space design, and multimodal connectivity to shape one of the more significant corporate campuses in the U.S.
Hit the Bricks: Downtown Rogers Biking Tour (CNU34T28)
11:30 AM - 2:30 PM | Bus and Biking | $65
Rogers is known for having one of the largest, most intact historical downtowns in NWA. With the railroad running through the center of downtown, the community has leaned into the railroad, focusing on its contribution as a cultural asset and source of identity. By bicycle, explore the railyard urban park, which includes a playground, splash pad, plaza, and pavilion spanning nearly 6 blocks of former parking lots. Railyard Bike Park and Lake Atalanta complete the trifecta of outdoor recreation opportunities and infrastructure downtown, all connected by paved shared-use trails as well as single track soft trails along the hillside.
South 8th Street Walking Tour: Weaving Path and Place in Bentonville (CNU34T31)
11:30 AM - 2:30 PM | Walking | $35
Participants will experience three distinct but interwoven streetscape projects that connect corporate campuses, regional parks, and neighborhoods along a microcosm of the urban-to-rural transect in Bentonville. Speakers will share how quick-build and full street redesign approaches, led by both public and private sector sponsors, intersect to form a cohesive corridor, including how near-miss analyses are being used to improve safety and comfort for walking and bicycling.
Bentonville Mountain Bike Ride: Coler and Slaughter Pen (CNU34T33)
11:30 AM - 3:30 PM | Biking | $95
This guided mountain bike tour offers an immersive look at Bentonville’s nationally recognized trail ecosystem, weaving through Slaughter Pen Mountain Bike Park and the Coler Mountain Bike Preserve. Riders will experience a diverse mix of flow trails, technical features, and scenic woodland corridors that exemplify how high-quality outdoor recreation can be seamlessly integrated into an urban setting. Along the way, the tour will highlight how intentional trail design, public-private partnerships, and long-term investment have helped transform Bentonville into a global destination for mountain biking. Participants will also explore how these trail systems support economic development, tourism, and community health while remaining accessible to riders of varying skill levels. This ride showcases the power of trails as essential civic infrastructure—not just recreational amenities—within a growing city.
Note: This is a true mountain bike ride, not an introduction or casual cruise. Riders should be comfortable handling an e-MTB for 10–12 miles on blue-rated trails, including sustained climbs, descents, and technical features. If you’re not sure what “blue trail” means, this ride is probably not a good fit. Riders are expected to be fit, experienced, and fully self-sufficient on a mountain bike.
Saturday, 5/16/26
Design Philanthropy: WFF Design Excellence Program Projects (CNU34T12)
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM | Bus and Walking | $85
This full-day bus tour highlights the Walton Family Foundation’s Design Excellence Program and its transformative role in shaping vibrant, people-centered places across Northwest Arkansas. Stops include TheaterSquared and The Ramble in Fayetteville—models of civic architecture and urban green space integration; Springdale Municipal Campus and Luther George Park—a reimagined civic core featuring Shiloh Square, Walter Turnbow Park, and Mile 16 of the Razorback Greenway; and Railyard Park in Rogers—an adaptive downtown park linking art, play, and community events. In Bentonville, participants will explore Thaden School, a nationally acclaimed campus blending innovation and craftsmanship; the Helen Walton Children’s Enrichment Center, an inviting early learning environment emphasizing nature and light; and 8th Street Gateway Park, a signature public space connecting neighborhoods through art and landscape. Finally, the tour will explore the newly opened A Street Promenade, a conversion of a vehicle street to a bicycle and pedestrian only promenade, connecting several parks and enabling users to ride from the heart/square of Bentonville directly to hundreds of miles of soft surface trails without interruption. Together, these projects showcase how design excellence fosters connection, inclusivity, and enduring community identity across the region.
E. Fay Jones: Elevated Design in the Ozarks (CNU34T18)
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM | Bus and Walking | $85
Journey through Ozark hill towns outside of Fayetteville to explore E. Fay Jones’ architectural legacy, including two of his most celebrated works. The Thorncrown Chapel outside Eureka Springs was voted by the American Institute of Architects as fourth on the list of the most important American buildings of the twentieth century. The soaring wooden chapel—made from humble 2x dimensioned lumber bolted together by steel fasteners—has been called by critics as "one of the finest religious spaces of modern times.” The chapel has been honored with the AIA’s 25-Year Award and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In Bella Vista, the Mildred B. Cooper Chapel continues Jones’ investigation of a gothic-like structure, this time in standard steel channel construction. The tour ends with one of Jones’ most significant homes, the dramatic Faubus House for the former Arkansas governor, overlooking downtown Huntsville.
Walmart Home Office Campus-Biking Tour: World Class Landscapes on a corporate campus (CNU34T21)
9:30 AM - 12:00 PM | Biking | $65
The new Walmart Home Office covers more than 400 acres in the heart of Bentonville, Arkansas. Thoughtfully designed as a connected and sustainable campus, it features six amenity buildings, 11 parking decks and 12 office buildings organized into distinct neighborhoods and constructed with sustainable materials—including 2.4 million square feet of mass timber. Over half of the campus is preserved as green space, with office and amenity buildings nestled among more than 750,000 plants, trees, and shrubs. The grounds also include over 13 acres of lakes and nearly seven miles of scenic walking and biking paths, creating a vibrant environment for work and well-being. This biking tour will explore the landscape and outdoor spaces which have created a people-centered workplace that is an anchor to the surrounding community at the edge of downtown. Participants will experience the campus’s walkable layout and emphasis on well-being, nature, and collaboration. Learn how various partners and consultants translated strategies in sustainability, public space design, and multimodal connectivity to shape one of the more significant corporate campuses in the U.S.