Task Forces

CNU Task Forces advance the practice of New Urbanism by fostering new projects. Task Force projects are called Initiatives. As practitioners, Task Force leaders help direct our organization's efforts in their issue area by working with CNU members to identify the primary challenges to implementing New Urbanism.

Members interested in working on an initiative should contact Heather Smith, hsmith@cnu.org.

Task Force leaders hold a lunch and give updates on their work at the annual Congress.

For the most up-to-date Task Force projects, please visit the Initiatives page.

Education

Mission:
To promote formal education about New Urbanism within academic and professional programs, particularly architecture, landscape architecture, planning, and associated fields, as well as to K-12 and the general public. To serve as a resource for post-graduate theory and skills training for professionals. To foster scholarly research and create a body of literature about New Urbanism in a wide range of disciplines including, but not limited to design fields, social sciences, science and engineering, and medicine.

This group regularly updates a bibliography of K-12 New Urbanist Resources and listings of New Urbanist Research.

Co-chair: Phyllis Bleiweis
Co-chair: Lucy Rowland

Environment

Mission:
The CNU Environmental Task Force believes that urban design that incorporates the preservation, protection and reclamation of natural system functions, and integrates them as essential parts of the urban pattern and infrastructure, will not only make the case for urbanism but also make the case for sustainability. Urbanists can make sustainable urban and regional communities by incorporating knowledge about a region's environmental systems into the design process. This additional layer functions like New Urbanism's layers of streets, civic spaces, edges, and walking distances. It requires attention to issues like:
- Orientation of buildings and spaces to utilize solar and natural energies
- Selection of building material types and methods of construction as a function of local climate
- Letting nature do her work by designing to mimic natural processes

The task force helped initiate CNU's involvement in LEED-ND, a groundbreaking joint venture to create a rating and certification system for sustainability at the neighborhood scale.

Co-Chairs: Tom Richman and Matt Raimi

Planners

Mission:
The mission of the Planners Task Force is to engage planners and professionals in the activities of CNU and to support them with up-to-date information and tools. Planning and urban design are central to CNU's mission, and planners are a core constituency of the group.

Co-Chairs: Jennifer Hurley and Paul Crawford

Transportation

Mission:
"The New Urbanism is not anti-car. It is about civilizing our transportation systems."
--Charter of the New Urbanism

Civilizing transportation requires a fundamental reform of the systems that plan, design, fund and implement transportation. It also requires a stronger integration of transportation and the communities it serves. Within the CNU we must be careful not to fall into the trap of believing if we just build light rail, skinny streets and traffic calming we can declare victory. Often they are simply band-aids masking a bigger problem. The challenge for transportation is to integrate it into the mainstream of the CNU and harness it as a tool for restoring and building vibrant communities. Our mission is to change how we communicate, plan, design, fund and implement transportation to help create sustainable, attractive and inclusive communities. We will manage, nurture, and facilitate the task of documenting cutting-edge work in case studies and tech sheets that illustrate our mission and give others the tools to help make it real.

Co-Chairs: Marcy McInelly and Norman Garrick