CNU attendance tops 800: growth by leaps and bounds

More than 800 designers, planners, developers, activists, environmentalists and politicians participated in CNU VI in Denver. This represented a 180 percent increase in attendance from CNU V in Toronto. Approximately one-third of the attendees were from the Denver-Colorado Front Range, the rest were national and international members. Task Forces Growing Each year at the Congress the Task Forces welcome new members and discuss initiatives. This year’s Task Force meetings were well attended and productive. The June Task Force report will update members on the 1998-99 Task Force Activities. Two important changes: the Case Studies and Principles & Policies Task Forces have combined into the Best Practices Task Force; and a new Developers Task Force has been formed. Both groups met for the first time at CNU VI and are working to shape their missions. many issues covered Here are some of the highlights of sessions held at CNU VI: New Urbanism Meets the Existing City: Board member and Charlotte, North Carolina, architect Harvey Gantt called on the CNU to seriously address infill development and show the skeptics what makes urban living attractive. Ray Gindroz, chair of the Inner-City Task Force, responded that the New Urbanists have been working in central city locations and have made important headway in changing the culture at HUD to better reflect the CNU’s philosophy. The Architecture of Infill: Does Style Matter? Michael Pyatok, Oakland-based architect, used the terms “schmaltz” and “schmutz” to characterize the architectural pitfalls of many New Urbanist projects. He challenged CNU to mature its approach to design and support architecture that is responsive to both context and regional traditions. Look for a future article in Places magazine summarizing the presentations made at this session. The Incremental Transformation of the City of Perth, From Sprawl to New Urbanism: Chip Kaufman, Wendy Morris, and Evan Jones, the CNU’s Australian contingent, presented a new Neighborhood Community Design Code, which includes design guidelines for incremental infill and techniques for evaluating the pedestrian-friendliness of a community. Copies of this document will be made available through the CNU office. Building a New Urbanist/Environmental Agenda: This session proved to be an important call to arms for CNU. Harriet Tregoning of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported on the numerous “Smart Growth” initiatives underway across the country and asked CNUers to seize the moment and get involved. Jim Sayer, of the Greenbelt Alliance, called on the new urbanists to think of NIMBYs as the contingent that, despite their reputation within CNU, is effective at stopping the worst forms of sprawl and should be viewed as a poten- tial partners who can be educated. But Will It Sell? Marketing New Urbanist & Green Communities: New Urbanist marketing specialists and developers reported good news on home sales in 1997 and 1998. Ken Krueger, Vice President of Centex Homes in Washington State, revealed that small lots are not a marketing liability provided that the community has a New Urbanist design. John Schleimer of Market Perspectives reported that many New Urbanist projects around the country are selling well — especially those selling reasonably priced homes. Conventional suburban developments are geared to the traditional family — which represents only 30 percent of households. “We are poised with our product to cater to the other 70 percent as well as the traditional 30 percent — a remarkable position.” Nature, Human Nature and the Soul: John Massengale, Jim Kunstler and Philip Bess led a thought provoking discussion of the spiritual merits of the New Urbanism, hearkening back to great thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson and John Muir. On the Measures of the New Urbanism: Andres Duany led a panel discussion with Peter Calthorpe, Laurie Volk, Bill Lieberman, Rick Bernhardt, and Paul Murrain to debate establishing a set of New Urbanist standards comparable to the sprawl-inducing standards set by traffic and civil engineers. There was little agreement about Duany’s proposal, because respondents voiced concern that a new system of numbers could be as inflexible as current standards and unresponsive to regional precedents. However, most felt that New Urbanists should do a better job of communicating what makes a project acceptable, rather than solely critiquing the worst aspects of standard subdivisions. Next Year in Milwaukee CNU VII will be held in June 3-6, 1999, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Tentatively, the theme is “The Wealth of Cities.” Let’s make the next Congress as successful as Denver!