For the Powell Avenue Steam Plant, we propose a contemporary civic framework for Birmingham, Alabama, titled “The New Anytown, USA.” The design reinterprets familiar Americana typologies through modular scaffolded systems, recycled industrial materials, and cultural programming that blends innovation, art, music, and food. We cultivate a layered sense of affordability (place), flexibility (space), and energy (vibes), evoking an urban atmosphere where grassroots creativity, public life, and economic opportunity can emerge together, forming an evolving stage for Birmingham’s next identity. The New Anytown, USA is not a static development but a living framework. It actively samples from the cultural rhythms of Birmingham itself, from the industrial legacy of the Powell Avenue Steam Plant to the pedestrian energy emerging around Railroad Park. It draws from recognizable American town-making elements like Main Street, the Town Square, and the Highway Interchange. These are not recreated literally, but stretched, abstracted, and reconfigured into scaffolded infrastructure designed for change, reuse, and continuous evolution. The project’s material language of scaffolded steel and recycled industrial components speaks to Birmingham’s manufacturing past. Its open and unfinished spatial systems invite continual transformation and occupation. The structure is not ornamental or fixed. It is designed to be workable, adaptable, and intentionally incomplete. It serves as a platform for cultural production as much as a built form. Drawing from the temporary logic of fairgrounds, billboards, and exit ramps, these systems are retooled into lasting yet flexible spaces that can host food markets, live music, maker spaces, exhibitions, and civic gatherings. Inspired by Birmingham’s car culture, the project transforms the idea of mobility into a pedestrian experience. No longer focused on vehicles or highways, it imagines movement as a framework for walking, gathering, and social exchange. With Railroad Park to the west, the project extends this momentum by positioning the park as a new civic street. It reimagines the interchange and the highway as walkable, layered public infrastructure. The project also samples from contemporary cultural and economic movements. It pulls influence from pop-up economies, maker spaces, social media-driven placemaking, and the DIY energy that fuels creative districts. Like SoHo, DUMBO, and Fishtown, The New Anytown, USA is not a finished product. It is an open-ended system where place, space, and vibe become the architecture itself. It stands as a scaffold for Birmingham’s next cultural and economic identity. A space that holds both the memory of its industrial past and the energy of its creative future.