• Supporting food economy and public space for working-class neighborhood

    SCLT Headquarters is an adaptive building reuse and urban plan for a working-class area in Providence, RI. Union Studio Architecture & Community Design won a Merit Award in the Block, Street, and Building category of the CNU 2023 Charter Awards.
    Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT) was born in 1981 when Hmong refugees and Brown University graduates began growing healthy, culturally familiar food on vacant lots in south Providence, Rhode Island. SCLT now manages almost 60 urban gardens and 50 acres of suburban farmland that produce food...Read more

  • A small city rebuilds downtown with a focus on urbanism

    Hammond Downtown Master Plan has enabled the Northwest Indiana city to kick start its downtown revival. Speck & Associates and Stantec’s Urban Places won a Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the CNU 2023 Charter Awards.
    Based on the past sixty years, one would expect Hammond, Indiana, to continue shrinking and its downtown to stagnate indefinitely. But the suburb of Chicago has other factors in its favor, according to Jeff Speck, who led the design team for a recent Downtown Master Plan . A commuter rail station...Read more

  • Piloting a new urban quarter in an African city

    Goha Sefer—The New Urban Quarter in Gondar, Ethiopia, is a 50-acre neighborhood plan in the historic African city. Metaya Tilahun of Notre Dame won a Student Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of CNU's 2023 Charter Awards.
    The northwest Ethiopian city of Gondar was a major center of trade from the 1600s to the 1800s, when it was home to emperors. The center of government and business historically drew the finest builders and craftsmen , who constructed a city of traditional urbanism around the royal compound. But all...Read more

  • A 15-minute city for southeast London

    Thamesmead Expansion is a series of proposals for a large, transit-oriented site in London. Students at UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design won a Student Merit Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category of the 2023 Charter Awards.
    Like the US, Britain is experiencing a widespread housing affordability shortage, especially around London in the southeast of the UK. Opportunity areas for new housing in that region are critical—including a flat, 300-acre former military site on the Thames estuary where 12,000 to 15,000 living...Read more