• Sustainable new timber-frame fabric in Guatemala

    Construyendo Guatemala: Tradition and Technology combines creative infill design and construction. Deisy Velasquez, University of Maryland, won a Student Merit Award in The Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the 2025 Charter Awards.
    Construyendo Guatemala proposes low-rise, high-density mixed housing, a community center, open spaces, and a school for a 10-acre infill site in Antigua. Designer Deisy Velasquez analyzed the urban fabric in Antigua, founded nearly 500 years ago in 1543. The city’s layout in a 5-by-5 block grid,...Read more

  • Preservation plan promotes climate-friendly development

    Regenerative Conservation: Centering Preservation Philosophy within Urban Planning Policy. Sean Gaouette at the University of Notre Dame won a Student Merit Award in The Neighborhood, The District, and The Corridor category of the 2025 CNU Charter Awards.
    Regenerative Conservation began as a study of resilient cities in climate-stricken areas, focusing on the 40-block, 150-acre Arapahoe Square, a neighborhood adjacent to downtown Denver, Colorado. This project applies a range of tools, including a conservation district, building code amendments,...Read more

  • The Art of the New Urbanism

    Fine art helped to drive the New Urbanism trend toward walkable communities.
    A coming book on the New Urbanism that will blow a lot of socks off. The Art of the New Urbanism Volume 1, highlights an aspect of the movement that is long overdue for examination: The works of the talented artists who have drawn renderings and plans for countless projects. Explains co-author...Read more

  • Six-point visual check for a better downtown

    When looking at façades, six questions asked together can point you toward new buildings that increase downtown vibrancy.
    Our downtowns are seeing more and more podium buildings (4 over 1’s, 5 over 1’s, pedestal buildings). Given building codes, the demand for housing, and financing it is easy to see why. The problem with a vast majority of what we are seeing is that the buildings are needlessly underperforming. They...Read more