Focusing on the Building Blocks of Community
CNU 35 represents the opportunity to finally gather in a community that never stopped building connection, to explore how thoughtful urban design and strategic planning can support healing, resilience, and long-term investment in both people and place.
CNU is coming to the Twin Cities, a region that has long been at the center of critical national conversations about public space, equity, safety, and belonging. Few metropolitan areas have grappled more publicly or more honestly with the tensions and opportunities that define urbanism today, from the legacy of highway construction through historic neighborhoods to bold investments in transit, affordable housing, and park infrastructure. The Twin Cities bring both the challenges and the aspirations that CNU members work to address every day, making this an especially meaningful and timely gathering.
CNU 35 will be anchored in the Mill District of Minneapolis, a walkable, connected neighborhood that reflects the city's industrial history and its ongoing commitment to adaptive reuse, riverfront access, infill housing, and multimodal transportation. Through walking tours, local project showcases, and conversations with practitioners and residents shaping the region's future, attendees will experience firsthand how the civic realm can serve as a foundation for community connection and bring that energy back to their own communities.
Our host hotel, the Renaissance Depot Minneapolis, is the former Milwaukee Road train depot, which operated from 1899 to 1971. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it features exposed iron trusses, barrel-vault ceilings, arched windows, brick walls, and a clock tower modeled after the Giralda in Seville, Spain. CNU 35 attendees will be thrilled to host the entirety of the educational program within this adaptive reuse project.