Congress for New Urbanism

Congress for New Urbanism

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Overview

The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) is the leading organization promoting walkable, neighborhood-based development as an alternative to sprawl. CNU takes a proactive, multi-disciplinary approach to restoring our communities. CNU members include planners, developers, architects, engineers, public officials, investors, and community activists who create and influence the built environment, “transforming growth patterns from the inside out.” Example projects include bringing restorative plans to hurricane-battered communities in the Gulf Coast, turning abandoned shopping malls into vibrant mixed-use neighborhoods, and reconnecting isolated public housing projects to the surrounding urban fabric.

CNU seeks to create and/or promote land use/transportation planning tools that make it easier to put New Urbanism into practice around the world. CNU is primarily an educational and professional organization for practicitioners of compact, mixed-used, transit-oriented development. CNU holds a national conference every year.

CNU Initiatives

Major Initiatives

Climate Change Campaign -- Principles, resources, and a certification program for green neighborhood development plans.

CNU/ITE Street Design Manual -- Alternative street standards for major boulevards to increase pedestrian, bicycling, and transit use and safety for all.

Highways to Boulevards -- Why and how to replace disruptive urban interstate highways with multimodal boulevards that help repair the urban fabric and recapture lost real estate value.

LEED for Neighborhood Developments (LEED-ND) -- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design--Neighborhood Development is a set of standards and a certification program for multi-modal developments, still in the testing stage as of 2008.

Emergency Response & Street Design Initiative -- Joint effort with fire marshals to determine the best ways to work together to ensure emergency access and new urbanist street designs and layouts are compatible.

Post-Hurricane (Katrina) Planning Along the Gulf Coast -- CNU partnered with Mississippi governor Haley Barbour to re-plan towns destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, creating the Mississippi Renewal Forum.

Sustainable Transportation Networks -- An effort to move New Urbanist transportation ideas into the mainstream of the transportation engineering profession. Regular conferences are held.

Affordability -- CNU effort to promote mixed-income development as a social goal.

Visitability & Accessibility -- An effort to ensure people with mobility challenges feel welcome in all New Urbanist buildings and neighborhoods.

K-12 New Urban Resources -- a bibliography of resources for primary and secondary teachers to introduce students to the concepts of New Urbanism, Smart Growth, and traditional town planning.

Light Imprint New Urbanism -- Promoting development techniques which aim to lie lightly on the land by coordinating sustainable engineering practices and New Urbanist design techniques.

New Urbanism and Comprehensive Plans -- An initiative to highlight how the principles of new urbanism can (and should) be incorporated into municipal or multi-jurisdictional comprehensive plans.