Latest

Next City / January 10, 2019

Charlottesville fights back against its racist zoning demons

In the public realm, zoning elicits a range of reactions across cities, and Charlottesville is no different. Existing zoning restrictions have made the city’s tight housing market even tighter, and there’s fear within lower income communities that denser zoning will greatly increase gentrification and displacement.

Civil Eats / January 1, 2019

The Bronx City Park is making public land forage-friendly

The neighborhood surrounding the park is considered a “food desert,” where fresh and affordable fruits and vegetables are hard to come by. Combining public space with edible gardens, the Bronx River Foodway might be the future of public park design.

CityLab / December 26, 2018

2018 was the year of the aspirational park

High-impact design was a recurring theme for parks that opened in 2018, and so was the hope that parks can unite and invigorate cities. Tulsa’s Gathering Place, Toronto’s Bentway, and Detroit’s Riverfront Conservancy are all being transformed into green spaces exhibiting the latest in equitable and resilient design.

Curbed / December 26, 2018

How cities became more equitable in 2018

Is it possible to design a more fair, more equitable country? Across the U.S. new perspectives are emerging, centered on food-oriented design, the legacy of public monuments, and how architects address equity in their work.

Curbed / December 18, 2018

Rail Park wins 2018 engineering award

Urban Engineers, the group behind the Rail Park, announced that they’ve won the 2018 award for Outstanding Engineering Achievement from the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers’ Philly Chapter.

The Guardian / December 13, 2018

What would a city that is safe for women look like?

Most cities have not been designed with women’s safety in mind but, from Egypt to Rwanda, new technology, design, and education are reducing the threat of violence on the street.

City Observatory / December 12, 2018

A toolkit for value capture policies

Value capture mechanisms capture a portion of the value created by a public investment and use those funds to help support the asset itself. A new toolkit developed by U3 for Reimagining the Civic Commons presents various value capture mechanisms and highlights their merits and drawbacks.