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Insights

thought leadership Shaping the Future of Cities and Suburbs

Discover David Dixon’s perspectives on urban transformation, suburban remixing, emerging trends, and the forces reshaping our communities through articles, videos, podcasts, and educational programs.

“Downtown historic preservation and revitalization” by David Dixon, FAIA, featuring Boston’s Turnpike air-rights project.
01
Downtown: Building the Present and the Future on the Past
Article by David Dixon, FAIA | October 25, 2026

Discover how downtowns can build on their past, reconnect historic neighborhoods, and celebrate the people who bring their history alive.
“Urban humanism and five-minute neighborhoods” by David Dixon, FAIA, featuring a rendering of Courthouse Square in downtown Flemington, New Jersey.
02
Recapturing Urban Humanism: Why Downtown Needs Five-Minute Neighborhoods
Article by David Dixon, FAIA | October 24, 2026

Discover how five-minute neighborhoods restore downtown’s human scale, strengthen community, and generate economic value.
“Walkable neighborhoods and innovation ecosystems” by David Dixon, FAIA, featuring Kanata North in Ottawa, Ontario.
03
Creative Collisions: Why Innovation Needs Walkable Neighborhoods
Article by David Dixon, FAIA | October 23, 2026

Discover how walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods spark creative collisions, attract talent, and strengthen innovation ecosystems.
“Downtown planning and urban transformation under the New Norm” by David Dixon, FAIA, featuring a planning image of Memphis, Tennessee.
04
How the New Norm is Reshaping the Context for Planning Downtown
Article by David Dixon, FAIA | October 21, 2026

Dixon explores how economic, demographic, mobility, and environmental forces are reshaping downtown planning and creating new opportunities.
05
Why We Need Walkable Density for Cities to Thrive
Article | September 9, 2025

David Dixon, FAIA and other urban experts explore why thoughtfully designed, walkable density is essential to creating more vibrant, sustainable, and economically successful cities.
06
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
Online Course | Class Year 2025

Taught by David Dixon, FAIA, this online course explores the need and opportunity to reinvent aging mall sites into vibrant, inclusive, and economically valuable centers for 21st-century communities.
07
Decking Highways: Reconnecting Communities
Online Course | Class Year 2025

Taught by David Dixon, FAIA, this online course explores how highway decking can reconnect divided communities, reclaim land, and create new opportunities for housing, public space, and economic development.
08
Placemaking for Innovation: Creating Innovation Ecosystems
Online Course | Class Year 2024

Taught by David Dixon, FAIA, this online course examines how innovation ecosystems help cities thrive beyond a district or hub and placemaking cultivates success.
09
Just Suburbs: The New Frontier for Equity and Inclusion
Online Course | Class Year 2023

Taught by David Dixon, FAIA, this online course explains that as poverty is being displaced from central cities to suburbs, planners should look to strategies that create mixed-income neighborhoods—a place that everyone can call home.
10
Catalyzing Calgary’s Downtown West
Report | November 6, 2023

This report features David Dixon, FAIA, as an urban expert and explores how strategic investment and placemaking can revitalize downtown neighborhoods, strengthen communities, and catalyze economic growth.
11
Retrofitting Hammond, IN’s Downtown Core From Car-Centric to a Walkable Neighborhood
Video | May 24, 2023

David Dixon, FAIA, and other urban experts explore how Hammond is transforming its car-centric downtown into a more connected, walkable neighborhood designed around people and community.
12
A New Era of Downtown Opportunity
Article | April 18, 2022

David Dixon, FAIA, examines the forces reshaping downtowns and how walkability, housing, innovation, and changing demographics can drive their next era of growth.
13
A New Era of Downtown Opportunity: The Intersection of Housing and Innovation
Online Course | Class Year 2022

Taught by David Dixon, FAIA, this online course explains specific policy and urban design strategies for adapting downtowns to a new role: innovation communities.
14
Suburban Remix: Creating the Next Generation of Urban Places
Online Course | Class Year 2022

Taught by David Dixon, FAIA, this online course examines how suburbs can manage change while enhancing livability, economic opportunity, and fiscal responsibility.
15
Walkable Density: Building Livable, Equitable, and Resilient Communities
Online Course | Class Year 2022

Taught by David Dixon, FAIA, this online course explains why a new approach to density is an essential need, with multiple public benefits, empowering communities to more effectively manage the accelerating pace of demographic, economic, environmental, social, and technological change.
16
From Zero to Hero: Kick-Starting the Rebirth of North America’s Malls
Article | May 19, 2021

David Dixon, FAIA, explores how aging malls can be transformed into vibrant, walkable, mixed-use communities that respond to changing markets and community needs.
17
Making Richmond Hill Future-Ready: Interview with David Dixon
Interview | February 24, 2021

Exciting things are coming to Richmond Hill, Ontario. David Dixon, FAIA, speaks to Novae Res Urbis about building a walkable, lively, mixed-use downtown.
18
The Future of Mobility: Remaking Buffalo for the 21st Century
Report | December 9, 2020

David Dixon, FAIA, contributes to a report examining how the widespread introduction of new transportation technology is coming, and how cities can start planning for its arrival now.
19
The 19th Century’s “Best Planned City” Tries Again
Interview | May 21, 2021

David Dixon, FAIA, discusses his work reimagining downtown Buffalo around walkability, mobility, and a more connected urban future.
20
David Dixon: The Urban Opportunity & How to Unlock It
Article | October 16, 2017

David Dixon, FAIA, explores how walkable, mixed-use urban places can help communities attract talent and investment while strengthening economic opportunity, connectivity, and equity.
21
Redefining Resilience: David Dixon at TEDxNYIT
Presentation | December 18, 2013

At TEDx NYIT, David Dixon, FAIA explains what it takes for cities to move beyond recovery and become stronger, more adaptable, and better positioned for long-term success.
22
What the Industry Learned About Recovery From Post-Katrina New Orleans
Interview | October 15, 2013

From the bureaucracy to the grass roots to "hard resilience," David Dixon, FAIA, compares the profession’s recovery efforts from after Hurricane Katrina to after Hurricane Sandy.
23
Chicago’s Cabrini-Green Site Gets Second Chance
Interview | December 5, 2007

David Dixon, FAIA, highlights Cabrini-Green as a powerful example of how mixed-income development can help cities reclaim neighborhoods shaped by decades of disinvestment.
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Downtown: Building the Present and the Future on the Past
Article by David Dixon, FAIA | October 25, 2026

Discover how downtowns can build on their past, reconnect historic neighborhoods, and celebrate the people who bring their history alive.
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