New Urban Update: IncDev in Gaza, Tom Low, Charter Awards, Shoup, and Brussat
I have been working on a Climate Action Handbook for CNU, which we plan to have published and printed by CNU 34 in Northwest Arkansas, but in doing so, I took a break from Public Square for a month and a half. There's a backlog of stories, some of which I present here under “New Urban Update.” I expect to retain this as a regular feature.
The Rand Corporation published a piece advocating “incremental urbanism” in the rebuilding of Gaza.“Incremental urbanism has the advantage of returning people to their communities and enabling them to participate in stitching together what's left,” according to the writers. They describe problems with previous refugee camps built without a long-term city-building vision. “Recognizing those realities, Gaza needs what we are calling future-oriented camps. These would be laid out like an actual neighborhood, with a proper lot and block structure. People can live there in tents, caravans, or prefab structures while buildings go up slowly around them. Over time, permanent buildings would replace tents, in an organized way that creates functional and sustainable communities.”
Architect and planner Tom Low, the director of Civic by Design in Charlotte, North Carolina, won the Barranco Award from the Urban Guild in 2025, “For individuals who not only distinguished themselves in design but who also demonstrate a gift for building enduring relationships beyond architecture, and inspiring coalitions for transformative change in the lives of families and communities—while unselfishly not caring who gets credit.” The Guild particularly cites Low’s groundbreaking work on Light Imprint design, “a framework that blends the principles of New Urbanism with sustainable, context-sensitive infrastructure. Light Imprint promotes environmentally responsible techniques—such as permeable paving, rain gardens, and green streets—that strengthen community form while restoring natural systems.” Low is the author of the Light Imprint Handbook, and he applied these ideas to well-known traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs) such as Habersham (see photo above) and Carlton Landing.
A map showing Charter-Award-winning projects worldwide illustrates the reach of these awards, which began in 2001. That’s 25 years of recognizing excellence in New Urbanist projects. Most of the approximately 300 professional projects are located in the US, but they span the globe, in every continent except South America (oddly enough). The deadline for Charter Awards submissions is coming up on December 19.
A new book has come out in honor of Donald Shoup, the tireless proponent of parking reform who died this year. The Shoup Doctrine: Essays Celebrating Donald Shoup and Parking Reforms, was published by Routledge/Taylor + Francis and edited by Daniel Hess, a professor at the School of Architecture and Planning and the University of Buffalo. City planners, economists, journalists, and parking professionals analyze three major parking reforms proposed by Shoup.
David Brussat, a writer on architecture and cities—particularly Providence, Rhode Island—died November 25. Brussat was a long-time editorial columnist for the Providence Journal, the only writer at a sizable daily newspaper who regularly advocated for traditional architecture—and he also promoted urbanism. After retiring from the Journal, Brussat kept a regular blog, Architecture Here and There, which he maintained until shortly before his death. His family writes: “David built this blog with great love—love for architecture, for beauty, for cities, and for the conversations that brought so many of you here.”
