Resources & Research

Downtown Pontiac has tremendous potential - planners said following three-days of intensive study by the Congress of the New Urbanism. Three days of conceptualization and team effort culminated in Sunday's meeting to conclude the Congress of New Urbanism Legacy Project charrette in Pontiac, Michigan. Intended to reimagine Pontiac's downtown space,...

Bob Gibbs discusses the economic development potential in Pontiac during the CNU Legacy Project Charrette Friday, April 15. The economic development potential for the city of Pontiac is tremendous. Just how great? How about a demand of up to 211,700 square feet of new retail and restaurant development producing up...

Team Leader Vinayak Bharne of Moule & Polyzoides Archtects & Urbanisms talks with Hazel Park residents about ways to improve their community as part of a CNU Legacy Project Tuesday. Hazel Park residents, city leaders and business owners got good news from an urban planner during a special design charrette...

Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan, frequently deemed one of the best universities in the world, so you might safely assume it's a city full of geeks. Geek culture, however, transcends the basic campus community of students and faculty. Instead, Ann Arbor's geek culture encompasses a thriving,...

A formerly vacant downtown storefront is full of activity during PlacePOP in Allegan. Read the full report here. Pop-up retail is a fun and creative way to activate and promote underutilized storefronts. In December 2015, we had the opportunity to do a pop-up retail PlacePOP project with Allegan leaders to...

This spring, more than 6,000 undergrads will receive their highly-anticipated diplomas from the University of Michigan; I'm proud to be one of them. For some of these students, several of whom have called Michigan home since childhood, graduation will mark the end of their time in the Wolverine State. Like...

The Knight Foundation has announced the finalists for this year's Knight Cities Challenge--and the League's idea - "Permit Corps" - is among them! With over 4,500 ideas submitted in the first round, the 158 finalists who have been invited to submit full proposals include 20 finalists from Detroit.  (We're tied...

With many of Michigan's communities recovering from our coldest or snowiest Februaries on record, the Water Hill neighborhood in Ann Arbor is making headlines from The Atlantic's CityLab to the Christian Science Monitor with "SnowBuddy." From their webpage: SnowBuddy is a unique nonprofit sidewalk snow removal service run like a public...

Placemaking is such a buzz word of 2014 - and that's a good thing! Placemaking awareness has been on the rise for the past few years, but themes, ideas, and policies are now more generally accepted and promoted. Placemaking is something people can relate to, want to talk about, and...

Small Business Saturday is growing momentum. This year, 88 million people across the country shopped locally on November 29, which is up nearly 15% from last year. The impact? $14.3 billion - not bad for some small businesses! And according to one study, for every $100 spent at a local...