In September of 2024, I became a first-time mother. The experience has been life-changing, but would it change my view on urbanism? I wondered if I would suddenly feel the pull of the suburbs, long for time alone in my car, or find my urban community suddenly overwhelming.

CNU’s newest staff person is Misty Adams who will be CNU’s Development Manager. Even more importantly, Misty hails from the Midwest! Her role for CNU will be to manage fundraising and cultivate relationships with donors. CNU Midwest wanted to get to know CNU’s newest staffer so we posed a few leading questions to her.

In an era where political theater often dominates the national conversation, local governments are frequently caught in the crossfire. Springfield, Ohio, found itself in this situation when City Manager Bryan Heck requested federal assistance to address a housing crisis worsened by an influx of immigrants into the community.

As New Urbanists, we often focus on incremental change and how small towns with limited resources can use “Tactical Urbanism” to help revitalize their struggling downtowns. An alternative approach is to embark upon a major project that will potentially transform a downtown, hoping that the project creates regional buzz, becoming a magnet for attracting new business and visitors to the downtown.

Connected Communities legislation in Cincinnati proposed major changes to the City’s 20-year-old zoning code related to middle housing, parking, density, height, and affordability.

This significant restructuring of Indianapolis's zoning code will not usher in a resurgence of neglected neighborhoods overnight, nor does it solve all of the challenges around equitable development and access to affordable housing. However, what it does do is lay the foundation for more housing types, such as apartment homes, rowhouses, and larger apartment buildings with pedestrian orientation along BRT corridors, in locations where it was not permitted previously.

The “Collector Strip” is possibly the most important element of a pedestrian-friendly street corridor yet it is perhaps the most misunderstood and underappreciated.

CNU Midwest sat down with Kathleen Norris the owner of Urban Fast Forward, a commercial real estate and planning firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Kathleen is an expert in retail strategies and specializes in creating neighborhood and downtown destinations.

Imagine your city. Think of one major road that cuts through the urban core. In most of the US, odds are this road is too wide, not that walkable, and has some missing teeth. Cities across America are working to fix these mid-century errors through planning, design, and infrastructure investment. The “Corridors” theme of 2023’s CNU Congress in Charlotte showcased the importance of these efforts. Today we’re zooming in on Louisville, KY’s version of this work, a plan called Broadway All the Way.

Covington is in the midst of a redevelopment wave. A number of prominent historic buildings have recently been rehabbed and several large new mixed-use buildings are in the planning stages or under construction.