The U.S. city was built for the baby boom. Its bones were formed when the U.S. was in its final decades of legal apartheid and fleshed out over four decades of rising inequality. The baby boom is still here and will continue to shape cities, suburbs, and rural areas. But we now need to accommodate a new generation— the millennials—whose coming of age will require millions of new rental housing units. Where will this housing be built?

For decades, the terms Central Business District, CBD and downtown were used almost interchangeably because, functionally, downtowns were dominated by retail stores, office based businesses, professionals and government agencies, along with some hotels and maybe entertainment venues.

Winning isn’t everything, but we can often learn a lot from plans, programs, and projects that have been deemed worthy of an award. In this session, speakers representing four winners of SCD’s 2015 Awards for Excellence in Sustainability will demonstrate how communities can function more sustainably.