• Twelve ways to achieve authenticity in community design

    Authenticity seems impossible today, with places and buildings that look like they could be anywhere, lacking harmony with nature and local culture. But designers can achieve authenticity through effective principles, and a dozen of them are listed here.
    Some sources of authenticity in the built environment are obvious, beginning with integrity. Is the design true to itself, and without obvious internal contradictions? Places and buildings with integrity tend to bring more joy than those laden with conflict. Is the design appropriate to the region...Read more

  • Eye-opening video shows church site reuse

    Creating intimate spaces within blocks could be the answer for some underutilized house of worship sites—as shown by a plan for catholic churches in a midwestern city.
    The US is facing a tremendous and growing number of church properties that are in need of better utilization or reuse . A plan and video for two catholic churches in South Bend, Indiana, shows how such properties might enable new urban placemaking of a high order while preserving the houses of...Read more

  • Revitalization begins with cloverleaf demolition plan

    In the City of South Bend, getting rid of absurdly failed highway infrastructure may be the key to revitalizing a district. The federal government is betting $2.4 million on it.
    In terms of failed urban renewal infrastructure, it would be hard to find a more absurd example than the Eddy Street cloverleafs in the Farmers Market District of South Bend, Indiana. These ramps on both sides of the St. Joseph River were completed in 1963 to carry traffic to and from a Studebaker...Read more

  • The magic of inner-block development

    The opportunities are vast to create human-scale places on the inside of urban blocks, according to a discussion on CNU's On the Park Bench.
    The most photographed street in the US is Acorn Street, in Boston, a little mid-block residential thoroughfare in the Beacon Hill neighborhood. The reason why Acorn—along with similar streets like Elfreth’s Alley in Philadelphia—is so popular, is because of its human scale, according to architect...Read more