Retrofit
A mixed-use center is the best way to maximize value from a vacant mall site, but it requires proactive city leadership, as seen in Huntsville.
Cape Cod boasts many things, including the first conversion of a sterile strip mall to a village center. It’s a model for what to do with thousands of dead and dying malls.
As the US seeks a long-term use for hundreds of dead malls, cities can put their faith in urbanism.
A Framework Plan for Cherokee Village envisions retrofitting a partially built 20th-century new town. University of Arkansas Community Design Center won a Merit Award in The Region: Metropolis, City and Town category of the 2025 CNU Charter Awards.
Wheatland Plaza in Duncanville is a model for adding value to an underutilized site along a suburban arterial through an efficient mixed-use design.
Williamson and Dunham-Jones explain what's hot in reforming suburbs on CNU’s On the Park Bench.
The Chapman Stables housing in DC shows how sites can evolve radically, while the street-facing facade remains.
Rancho Cucamonga is implementing urbanism on arterial roads and suburban commercial areas. This plan is intended to lead the way to density and mixed-use in a suburban city in Southern California.
Planning an acupunctural approach to repairing a sprawling plan from the 1950s, using urbanism principles.
A report on a workshop in Charlotte shows how Christopher Alexander’s pattern language can be expanded to improve communities.
State infrastructure funding and an urban renewal designation are overcoming the challenges of a failed mall transformation in Western New York.