City planners across North Carolina’s rural, suburban, and urban environments assert that a vibrant walkable downtown is their goal. They’re aiming to put that value into practice using a broad range of transportation options with help from the funding in the 2022 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Eugene “Gene” Kohn, one of the founding members of the global architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), has died at 92 after a yearlong battle with cancer. In his long tenure with KPF, Kohn’s firm designed some of the most famous skyscrapers in the world, including New York City’s Hudson Yards development; the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C.; 333 Wacker Drive in Chicago; London’s Covent Garden; the Shanghai World Financial Center; Hong Kong’s International Commerce Centre; and most recently, the Manhattan office tower One Vanderbilt.

The Austin Transit Partnership announced a partnership with an international design team led by HKS, UNStudio, and Gehl to create systemwide architecture and urban design for the light-rail program of Project Connect, a major expansion of Austin’s public transit system. Project Connect is a transformative, voter-approved investment that includes light rail, expanded bus routes, and more services across the city.

Four teams, representing Harvard University, the University of Virginia, and the University of California, Berkeley, have been selected as finalists in the 21st annual ULI Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition, an event that challenges teams of graduate students to devise a comprehensive design and development plan for a real-world urban site.

A number of factors are encouraging developers to try to bring Mother Nature on as a partner. On the carrot side, some governments are offering incentives to build green. There are sticks as well, which are also helping to keep builders focused on their carbon footprint

To what extent will proposed replacement policies address current issues? Are there other policies and practices that should be looked at and can older policies be tailored to meet today’s challenges? The whole array of planning and development practices are being questioned, particularly as seen through the outcomes they’ve produced or, in the case of housing, not produced.

For decades after its construction in the 1960s, locals had a wry nickname for Boston City Hall Plaza—“the red tundra,” for its wide, treeless, wind-swept expanse of red brick. In the last decade, however, the plaza transformed into an inviting destination for all.

A neighborhood at a former naval base in North Charleston, South Carolina will be the study site for the Urban Land Institute’s 21st annual ULI Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition—an educational initiative that challenges graduate students to present a development proposal for an existing site to simulate a real-world planning, design, and development scenario.

ULI is excited to announce the launch of Art in Place, a global cohort of the Institute’s National and District Councils working independently and together to connect artists, developers, and community voices. The program is the next step in ULI’s ongoing commitment to creative placemaking focused on the integration of art, culture, and creativity as levers of community revitalization.

After another exciting FIFA World Cup, many people in Atlanta will be keeping a close eye on the festivities when the tournament comes to North America in 2026. A program called StationSoccer hopes to bring new training facilities to 10 transit nodes across the city by kickoff.