Congress for New Urbanism (CNU 20)

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It’s been one week since I started out on my first CNU journey, and overall it was a wonderful one. I am still wallowing through all my reflections on my week in West Palm Beach and have been able to express many of them through posts I’ve written. I have believed in the movement and adhered to the CNU Charter in my own way since I...[read more]

Earlier this week, we published our report on CNU20 that took place in West Palm Beach. In it we deduced that New Urbanism is at a critical pivot point in its evolution. Conceived as an alternative to sprawl, which was the predominant development model for the second half of the 20th century in the United States, New Urbanism has matured...[read more]

Jarrett Walker, author of Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking About Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives, told us he was at CNU20 to preach a little fire and brimstone:  transportation planner to new urbanist. While I wouldn’t call it brimstone, he definitely spoke passionately about real issues that need to be...[read more]

It’s been roughly 48 hours since the last session at CNU 20 and I’ve been home about 24 of those hours with a sore throat and bruised heels from all the great debates, ideas, dances, food and fellowship that I encountered at the Congress.There were so many diverse viewpoints this year that it has taken me to this point to be able to sit...[read more]

As you may know, the CNU20 conference was organized around tracks which allowed you to focus on your particular interest and how it related to New Urbanism. I spent most of my time on the “Mobility and Walkable City” since that is where my concentration lies. There is no doubt that the best breakout session of this track was “Why Did We...[read more]

When I chose this breakout session, I didn’t really fully understand the title, but I was confident that with “space” and “transportation,” it had to be up my alley. It turned out to be a presentation of four of the latest and greatest research papers conducted in the New Urbanism field. As they were discussed, it was a little...[read more]

Photos courtesy of Seaside Institute

This morning when I walked into the West Palm Beach convention center, I was very excited to be able to meet and brainstorm with the thinkers at the forefront of my profession, or at least the people who share in the same urban design theology. I had heard rumblings about the culture of the Congress of New Urbanism and certainly...[read more]

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One of the best panels here at CNU today discussed quantifying the benefits of new urbanism and smart growth in a comprehensive manner. It featured Joseph Minicozzi, New Projects Director at Public Interest Projects, Galiena Tachieva, partner at DPZ, Michael Pagano, Dean of Urban Planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and...[read more]

Again, we're streaming today's plenary featuring Richard Florida live from Palm Beach starting at 5:30 until 6:30 pm EST. Don't miss it!Richard Florida, author of the best-selling Rise of the Creative Class and The Great Reset, speaks at CNU 20 on May 11. Florida is the founder of the Creative Class Group, currently heads the Martin...[read more]

 [View the story "The New World At CNU20: A Storified Post" on Storify][read more]

To students of urbanism the familiar story has been told over and over: post-WWII flight from the cities to the suburbs altered how American’s lived - generally from living “outside” your home to a more secluded, private interior sanctuary.[read more]

We’re live from CNU 20 in West Palm Beach, Florida and one of the most intriguing presentations was by Mike Lydon, founder of the Streets Plans Collaborative, talking about tactical urbanism, essentially a method of planning that involves first step approaches that evolve into long-term implementable solutions.[read more]