Retrofit
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.
It’s no secret that large numbers of US malls are in deep trouble, having lost anchor tenants, and many of them are in foreclosure. In his 10th Anniversary edition of Walkable City, Jeff Speck reports that “Fully a quarter of US malls aren’t...
Doral, known for a golf course and sprawl, has partnered with a developer to create a walkable downtown on the site of a former nondescript office park, reusing existing infrastructure.