New CNU 33 Content Alert!
CNU's First New Urbanism Open House
Each year, the annual Congress convenes over 1500 passionate urbanists, from nationally-recognized speakers to local advocates. For CNU 33 New England at Providence, we are opening our doors to the general public to provide a new type of content: a day of programming that highlights why the New Urbanist dialogue matters in the New England.
- When: June 11th, 2025 | 9:00am - 4:30pm
- Where: Rhode Island Convention Center, Exhibit Hall C
Welcome: Rhode Island Secretary of Housing Deborah J. Goddard
The Influence of New Urbanism in the City of Providence - 9:00am - 9:30am
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In this opening session, attendees will be introduced to the impact and influence of New Urbanism in the city of Providence over the past four decades, including the evolution and legacy of the Downcity Master Plan, key investments in the historic core, and other notable projects that had an outsized impact on the growth of the region.
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Speaker: Andres Duany, founding principal at Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ), and a co-founder and emeritus board member of the Congress for the New Urbanism.
Contemporary Urbanism: The Role of the Region - 9:30am - 10:00am
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Todd Zimmerman and Scott Wolf, the official emcees of the Outreach Day, have been working and living in Providence for decades. They will jointly discuss the role of the region in contemporary urbanism, the value that regionalism has in building a sustainable future, and develop an understanding of concepts that help define the region - from the center to the edge.
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Speakers:
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Todd Zimmerman, Director Emeritus, Zimmerman/Volk Associates, Inc. and contributor to the framing of the Charter of the New Urbanism
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Scott Wolf, Executive Director of Grow Smart Rhode Island.
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Walkability and the Region - 10:00am - 10:45am
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New England resident, planner, and long-time New Urbanist Jeff Speck will provide the introductory overview of one of the core principles of our movement: Walkability. Attendees will learn the why of walkability - promoting increased physical and mental health, a reduction in emissions, fostering social connections, and boosting local economies - in addition to how walkability can be achieved at the local and regional scale.
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Speaker: Jeff Speck, Principal, Speck Dempsey.
Emcee Commentary: Zoning, Code Reform, and the Region - 10:45am - 11:00am
Form-Based Lite: A Zoning Approach for Small New England Cities - 11:00am - 11:45am
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This session will focus on recent efforts to develop a form-based model that is particularly well-suited to New England cities where development opportunities are located in struggling commercial corridors and near-downtown residential neighborhoods that are required, because of state mandates, to upzone to allow for missing middle housing.
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Speakers:
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Tim Love, FAIA, Principal, Utile
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Kevin Chong, AIA, Associate in Urban Design & Planning, Utile
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Meagan Tuttle, AICP, Planning Director City of Madison, WI.
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Emcee Commentary: How land value impacts urban development - 11:45am - 12:00pm
Municipal Land Value and the case for New Urbanist Development - 12:00pm - 12:30pm
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In this session, attendees will learn the fundamentals of how to understand municipal value of land, and the way that walkable mixed-use environments are not only more enjoyable and offer more choice, but are more efficient for cities and towns to service at the same time.
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Speaker: Joe Minicozzi, Principal, Urban3.
BREAK: 12:30pm - 1:15pm
Emcee Commentary: The importance of adaptive reuse, historic preservation, and character in New Urbanism - 1:15pm -1:30pm
Leveraging New England’s Historic Infrastructure - 1:30pm - 2:15pm
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Attendees will learn from case studies in the creative adaptive reuse of historic structures across the region and receive an overview of the importance of programs like the State and Federal historic tax credits in making these catalytic projects pencil out.
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Speaker: Don Powers, Founding Partner, Union.
Emcee Commentary: The importance of acknowledging inequity and missteps in New Urbanism - 2:15pm - 2:30pm
Strategies of Reconciliation and Repair for more Equitable Regions - 2:30pm - 3:15pm
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Sites impacted by urban renewal have become the focus of calls for reconciliation and reparations for the racist housing and development policies that continue to this day. The landscape that we occupy has been shaped by a history of dispossession, slavery and discrimination. What are our responsibilities and accountability as academics and professionals to address this history and heal these sites of past harm?
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Speakers:
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Edgar Adams, Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, Roger Williams University
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Raymond 'two hawks' Watson JD, MACP | President of the Providence Cultural Equity Initiative, Member of Providence Reparations Task Force
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Senior member of the Providence Planning Dep. (or former Dir. Bonnie Nickerson).
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Emcee Commentary: Arts and Urbanism - 3:15pm - 3:30pm
Providence’s Arts-First Approach and the Next Steps for the “Creative Capital” - 3:30pm - 4:15pm
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Providence is in the middle of its biggest upgrade since the 1990s, the centerpiece of which was an investment in the arts. There was no downtown arts scene and the Downtown’s “arts-first” strategy became a model for other parts of the city. It worked in the Wickenden Street area, the Jewelry District, Federal Hill, and Fox Point and is helping emerging areas like The Steel Yard, the Armory, and Chalkstone Boulevard. This session looks back at the city’s renaissance from the perspective of who lived it and what is next for the “Creative Capital.”
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Speakers:
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Jason King, AICP, CNUA | Partner, Able City
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Joseph I. Mulligan III | Director, Department of Planning and Development and Executive Director, Providence Redevelopment Agency
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Ian Catmur | Executive Creative Director Fidelity Investments and Providence Resident
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Closing Arguments - 4:15pm - 4:30pm
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Todd and Scott weave together the threads of this program and how attendees can gear up to get the most out of the remainder of CNU 33!