Sundance Square named one of best public spaces by CNU

Sundance Square

The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) named Sundance Square Plaza in their top 10 list of the best public spaces at the heart of cities in America.

Squares are the outdoor living rooms of cities worldwide, and they have been planned at the center of the best North American cities for half of a millennium. Century after century, they just keep giving to cities, residents and visitors.

Here is what the Congress said about Sundance Square Plaza:

“The nation is now going through a renaissance in the building of civic spaces, and the 2013 Sundance Square Plaza is a prime example. This CNU Charter Award winner is the crowning achievement of the revitalization of walkable urbanism in downtown Fort Worth. By the 1980s, downtown Fort Worth was a tired and decaying place. The wealthy Bass Brothers, based in Fort Worth, funded a revitalization of a 36-block area, named in honor of the Sundance Kid, who often visited the city with his partner in crime, Butch Cassidy. Sundance Square Plaza is the central gathering spot of that revitalization and downtown Fort Worth. The plaza is a 55,000-square-foot, European-style palazzo that regularly hosts concerts, movies, festivals and other events. It includes multiple water features, including a 216-jetted fountain and 65-foot wave wall. Four 32-foot umbrellas are another focal point.”

- FWBP Digital Partners -

The other squares receiving recognition are:

Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Wright Square, Savannah, Georgia; Santa Fe Plaza, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Jackson Square, New Orleans; Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland, Oregon; Washington Square, New York; Healdsburg Plaza, Healdsburg, California; Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C.; and Campus Martius Park, Detroit.

Among the honorable mentions were: Courthouse Square, Lockhart, Texas and San Jacinto Plaza , El Paso.

https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2019/05/10/ten-great-public-squares