A creek, boulevard, and urban destination
A study of Cherry Creek and Speer Boulevard reimagines 92 acres of urban corridor adjacent to downtown Denver, Colorado. The corridor includes a heavily traveled thoroughfare and a channelized creek that separate Lower Downtown (LoDo) from the Auraria Higher Education Campus (HEC) to the west, which includes Metropolitan State University of Denver, University of Colorado Denver, and Community College of Denver.
The traffic on both sides of the creek doesn’t leave much room for parkland and human enjoyment in between. The project led by HDR takes an integrated approach to hydrology and ecology, public space, and mobility.
The mile-long section of Speer Boulevard was originally developed as part of the City Beautiful movement; however, the design has shifted to prioritize traffic in a vehicle-dominated area. Over time, urbanization and channelization degraded the creek’s ecological and social functionality, creating impermeable flood walls, high-velocity stormwater runoff, and fragmented public spaces. The surrounding neighborhoods are experiencing rapid growth, with projections for 20,000 new residents and 40,000 new jobs in adjacent areas over the next 25 years.
The study establishes five key goals:
- Amplify the creek: Enhance ecological and hydrological health through native plantings, wetland creation, and restoration of meandering creek segments to improve biodiversity, water quality, and flood resilience.
- Plan for downtown activity: Unify downtown by converting the corridor from a barrier into a connector, stitching together downtown with planned developments like the River Mile and Ball Arena, and educational hubs such as the Auraria Campus.
- Reinforce the City’s transportation goals: Advance multimodal connectivity by reconfiguring the corridor for safer, more equitable access across all modes of transportation, including pedestrian, bicycle, and transit options.
- Celebrate history: Honor the City Beautiful legacy of Speer Boulevard.
- Establish what can happen now: Identify actionable, short-term interventions to build momentum toward the larger vision.
The plan relocates the thoroughfare entirely to the west side of the creek, uniting public spaces and opening up opportunities for both publicly and privately owned development. The creek is removed from its channel, allowing the water to meander and slow down in storm events. Bike-pedestrian creekside paths are added, crossings improved, and street trees envisioned. Bike lanes are planned along Speer Boulevard. On the whole, Cherry Creek is envisioned as an ecological corridor and public destination at the heart of the city. One key to the design is exploring and imagining the corridor through time, says Avinash Rajagopal, Editor in Chief of Metropolis Magazine. “The project investigated what the Creek used to be, what we had done to it, what could be, while acknowledging that we can't really turn back the clock.”
The 2025 Charter Awards will be presented at CNU33 in Providence, Rhode Island, on June 12.
Cherry Creek and Speer Boulevard Vision and Feasibility Study, Denver, CO:
- HDR, Inc., Principal firm
- Snohetta, Design lead
- Superbloom, Landscape architecture
- Aschermann Consulting, Civil engineer
- Y2K engineering, Trail design
- CIG, Public engagement
2025 CNU Charter Awards Jury
- Rico Quirindongo (chair), Director, City of Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development
- Majora Carter, CEO of Majora Carter Group in the Bronx, New York City
- Jake Day, Maryland Secretary of Housing and Community Development
- Anne Fairfax, Principal, Fairfax & Sammons in New York, NY, and Palm Beach, FL
- Eric Kronberg, Principal, Kronberg Urbanists + Architects in Atlanta, GA
- Steven Lewis, Principal, ZGF Architects in Greater Los Angeles, CA
- Donna Moodie, Chief Impact Officer, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle
- Joe Nickol, Principal, Yard & Company in Cincinnati, OH
