Every year, as the leaves start to change and spooky season approaches, Spirit Halloween rises triumphantly from the grave and transforms strip malls across the U.S. As strip malls adapt to the shifting retail landscape, Spirit Halloween exemplifies how pop-up stores can offer creative solutions, if only for a season, to help bring struggling retail spaces back from the dead.

On October 4, Seattle opened its long-anticipated Overlook Walk, a multi-billion dollar civic project that stretches across the Emerald City’s iconic waterfront. The project represents a massive investment in accessible, pedestrian-friendly, and sustainable design.

Terminal 2 saw its busiest month ever this March. Overall, demand for travel has increased in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. Last month, the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) launched a $263 million expansion of Terminal 2 at MSP, which will incorporate a variety of green building systems. Other airports across the country are also jumping on the sustainability train . . . or, er, plane.

The Cabot Street Bath in Boston was the first public pool in the US . . . well, as the name implies, it was really more of a giant bathtub. Recreational swimming supports mental and physical wellbeing and can promote water safety, but public swimming pools can be hard to find.

If you’ve driven past Allianz Field in Saint Paul lately, you may have noticed a few changes. The 34.4-acre site will soon have new retail space, office buildings, and even a giant loon sculpture.

The 2024 Paris Olympic Village is designed for long-term, sustainable use. It represents an understanding of the impact that the Games have on residents and a departure from how Villages have historically been developed. It is not without its flaws, but Paris has demonstrated how the design and development of Olympic Villages can really go for the gold.

Traditional zoning maps often rely heavily on color differentiation (red for retail, purple for industrial, yellow for residential, etc.), posing a challenge for individuals with color vision deficiency (CVD), commonly known as color blindness. Recognizing this issue, there are ways to create color-blind friendly zoning maps, ensuring that everyone can access and understand how land use in their community is organized.

Cities like Salt Lake City, Boulder, and Tahoe City are switching to drone shows for for the Fourth of July for safety, environmental, and economical reasons, offering a reusable and sustainable alternative that still preserves the festive spirit. Fireworks, it seems, are fizzling out.

While convenient and staples of the American fast-food experience, drive-thrus can also impede traffic flow and put cyclists and pedestrians at risk. They are unlikely to disappear anytime soon, but as more cities like Minneapolis, St. Paul, or even Atlanta adopt bans and restrictions, drive-thrus may become a little less commonplace along American roadways.

The new SHC office has a variety of amenities and features – a coffee shop, lots of natural light, and . . . a well-placed bike rack. Bike parking can sometimes be difficult to find, but it’s a small and cost-effective way to encourage and support cyclists.

The past year has been full of change, challenges, and new opportunities. So, it seemed like the perfect time to pump up the chaos and move into a new office space!

This weekend, the City of St. Paul held its 38th annual Citywide Spring Cleanup. The event calls on volunteers to pick up litter in the City’s parks and streets to celebrate Earth Day and to tidy up before the warmer weather ahead. Volunteers gathered at 25 different sites around the City and were equipped with bags, gloves, and coffee before heading out.

Cities in the path of Monday’s total solar eclipse experienced approximately four minutes of darkness as the moon stepped in front of the sun. It was a momentary and brief celestial event; however, the economic impact of the eclipse will likely linger in cities and towns across North America for months to come.

In 2008, the City of Houston prohibited the installation inflatable tube men along with other “attention getting devices.” Supporters of the ban argued that inflatable tube men were not only distracting, but also tacky and adversely impacted the city’s image. Whether you find them unsightly, distracting, or just plain silly, inflatable tube men are here to stay.

For some, the Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England, represents traffic mitigation at its finest – for others, the five-swirl roundabout is an absolute terror.

Pickleball is America’s fastest growing sport. Cities across the country are scrambling to meet this surge in demand for court space, and they’re finding it in an unlikely place: Shopping malls.

Peatlands play a crucial role in regulating the climate, despite covering only around 3% of the Earth's land surface. As a result of their unique composition, peatlands act as vast carbon sinks and have the capacity to store significant amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

Last week, the City of Minneapolis announced that it will be accepting applications for parklets and street cafes for the 2024 season. The program seeks to activate community corridors with engaging and fun public spaces that support local businesses.

The City of Phoenix saw 133 days of triple-digit high temperatures last year. That’s about three weeks more than average. While the desert city is no stranger to heat, extreme temperatures can pose a tremendous health risk. In an effort to mitigate extreme summer temperatures, Phoenix is implementing an unbe-leaf-ably powerful strategy: That’s right - They’re planting trees.

Putting a padlock with your sweetheart on a bridge railing might seem harmless enough; however, it has the potential severely damage existing infrastructure. So, is it a cute tradition? Absolutely. But we’re still on the fence about it.