Congress Agenda

Agenda, Program, and Sessions

At CNU 33, the bulk of the program is made up of education and implementation sessions - where attendees can learn and engage with content that furthers our collective practice of New Urbanism. Each session provides CNU-A, AICP, AIA, and LA-CES continuing education credits. These sessions will be organized in the following way:

• Climate Track
• Development Track
• Housing Track
• Policy and Regulation Track
• Public Engagement Track
• Regional Context Track
• Transportation Track
• Urban Design Track
• Opportunities for Collaboration
• Local Government Day (ticketed separately)

You can preview the entire Educational Program below, or via PDF at this link.

CNU 33 Educational Program:

CLIMATE TRACK:

1. A River Runs through It: Climate Adaptation in Urbanizing Cities
2. Planetary Urban Issues and Team 11
3. An Insider's Guide to Building Net-zero Neighborhoods People Love
4. MODEL CLIMATE ADAPTATION ENABLING LEGISLATION
5. Adaptation in Action: Four Regions Respond to Climate Impact
6. Decarbonization for New Urbanists Enhancing: the Inherent Environmental Advantages of Traditional Urbanism
7. Revitalize | Resettle: Preparing Communities for Climate Migration through PLACE Assessments
8. Strategies for Coastal Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Planning: Sea Level Rise and Economic Development on the Atlantic Coast
9. Strategies for Coastal Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Planning: Transforming Coastal Adaptation Narratives: Urban Resilience Beyond Survival

DEVELOPMENT TRACK:

1. Designing Affordable Housing Across the Rural to Urban Transect
2. Accessory Commercial Units: The Next Big (Little) Idea in Building Complete Communities
3. Building Housing for the Innovation Economy
4. How to Eat An Elephant: An Incremental Development Approach for Large-Scale Projects
5. What to do when you don't have "Comps"
6. Five Easy Pieces (of zoning reform)
7. Upper Missing Middle Housing Types
8. Growing the Movement: the Next 10 Years of Incremental Development
9. Latino Dreams, Urban Realities: Redefining Homeownership in the U.S.
10. Sacred Spaces as Social Enterprise: Guiding development for faith-communities, neighborhoods, and cities.
11. Innovative Housing Strategies for Rural and Small-Town Transformation - Reviving Main Street: Practical Strategies for Rural Development
12. Innovative Housing Strategies for Rural and Small-Town Transformation - Evaluating Regional Housing Opportunity--Analyses of Urban Form and Development Potential

HOUSING TRACK:

1. Small Lots - Small Houses - Big Rewards
2. Duplexes, Rowhouses, Townhouses, (Single-family attached), oh my! Legalizing attached fee simple homeownership
3. Triple-Deckers & The Triple Bottom Line
4. Paradise (Nearly) Lost: Overcoming Challenges Building Affordable Housing on New England's Islands
5. Missing Middle HOWsing: Implementation & Results
6. A 6-point Visual Check to Better Podium Building Façades
7. A cottage court by any other name would be just as sweet
8. Single-Stair Reform: Lessons From the I-95 Corridor

POLICY AND REGULATION TRACK:

1. Form-based Lite: A Zoning Approach for Small New England Cities
2. Innovative Housing Strategies for Rural and Small-Town Transformation: Break the Rules Because They’re Already Broken
3. Shaping the Future: Miami 21 and the Evolution of Form-Based Codes
4. The State of Rhode Island’s Urban Services Boundary and Land Use 2025
5. The Get Sh!t Done Plan Your City Leadership Needs
6. Hack the Code: Finding Common Ground in Zoning Reform Strategies
7. Conflicting Mandates  - Don't Forget Stormwater
8. Don’t Break the City: Iterative Planning with Fiscal Analysis
9. Enjoying life without minimum parking mandates: lessons from cities that removed them
10. Case Studies in Zoning-Based Flood Risk Mitigation Across New England

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT TRACK:

1. Regionalism at the Ballot Box: Learning from Successful Referenda Across the US
2. Playing the Game: 501c4s and PACs for New Urbanist Advocacy
3. Bottom-Up and Top-Down: Embracing Third-Party Actors for Transformational Change
4. Social Media Creators and the New Urbanist Message

REGIONAL CONTEXT TRACK:

1. From Renewal to Repair: Toward more Equitable Regions
2. Providence’s Arts-First Approach and the Next Steps for the “Creative Capital”
3. Massachusetts’s Cultural Districts Initiative: Reexamining Policy, Purpose, and Process for Greater Impact
4. Building Regional Resilience Through Local Economies
5. Revitalizing and Rebuilding the Waterfront: Downtown Providence
6. Building a Safer Healthier Waterfront in Providence: Planning and Placemaking
7. Continuing the Lively Experiment: Exploring Regionalism for Rhode Island
8. Balancing Mission and Market: Strategic Build-out of the I-195 District in Providence
9. METROPOLIS DIVIDED : A Dialogue in Densifying Border Towns and Their Regions
10. From Austin to Boston: How to Scale-up Local Wins with Intercity Partnerships

TRANSPORTATION TRACK:

1. Claiborne Reborn: the realization of a dream
2. Complete Streets are Plural: Stroads, Streets, and Networks
3. CNU Transportation Resource Forum and Highway Transformation Manual
4. Walking into the Future: The Theory and Practice of Promoting Coherence through Walkability
5. Tokens, Tickets, and Tactics: Gaming the Curb for Public Understanding
6. Metro Connector: How High-Capacity Transit Could Bring Transformational Benefits to the Providence Region
7. Transit Connectivity across Jurisdictions and State Lines:  Rhode Island Transit Master Plan Update
8. Traffic calming by design-FBC's and design strategies for safe, lively streets

URBAN DESIGN TRACK:

1. By the Community/For the Community: Innovative Urban Centers Through Interdisciplinary Collaboration - Resilient Communities: New Urbanist Tools for Innovation Districts
2. By the Community/For the Community: Innovative Urban Centers Through Interdisciplinary Collaboration - Promoting Office-to-Residential Conversion in Boston and Beyond: Policy, Methodology, and Impact
3. Exploring the Nexus Between Urban Planning and Boredom
4. Assessing the Environmental, Economic, and Equity Impacts of Land Use Reform
5. Tulsa’s Global District: The lasting impact of a CNU Legacy Project
6. A New Urbanist and necessary perspective on Density
7. The Perfect Little Town
8. Lessons from Latin America: Sustainable Urbanism Rooted in Tradition
9. Planning With Purpose: Building Equitable Policies That Communities Can Deliver

OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLABORATION:

1. From Start-up to Succession: Lessons From The Entrepreneurs of The New Urbanism
2. Report on an International Collaboration for Research into Practice: CNU and IMCL
3. Newest New Urbanists
4. Report on A New Database of Research on New Urbanism
5. The Planner’s Pledge: From Concept to Action

General Schedule:

• Wednesday, June 11: 
  • Local Government Program (ticketed separately from the Congress)
  • New Urbanism Outreach Day (open to the public, more information coming soon)
  • Tours - varying length, all day
  • Opening Party: 195 District Park Waterfront Park
• Thursday, June 12:
  • All-day Sessions
  • Tours - varying length, all day
  • Evening Charter Awards
  • Evening Social Events
• Friday, June 13:
  • All-day Sessions
  • Tours - varying length, all day
  • Evening Social Events
  • Sponsor Reception
• Saturday, June 14:
  • Sessions
  • Tours - varying length, all day
  • Closing Party: TBD

Agenda is subject to change, check back frequently for updates. 

Beginning in 2021, CNU launched a multi-year effort to revolutionize Congress delivery to ensure this annual gathering lives up to its name. A Congress is more than a conference, it's an opportunity for collegial interaction between colleagues, focused learning on foundational New Urbanist principles, debate and dialogue aimed at expanding our collective practice, and the opportunity to work together in a problem space that explores what aspects of the New Urbanist vision are as of yet unrealized.

The program at CNU 33 New England at Providence will be made up of sessions, workshops, tours, and social events.

• Sessions are curated by CNU's Congress Program Committee with hundreds of people who propose sessions to share their expert knowledge and collaborate with fellow attendees. Session types include educational courses, project showcases, topical discussions, implementation-focused work, debates, and more. Each Congress provides between 75 - 90 sessions. 
• Workshops are curated by CNU in partnership with the Local Host Committee and our members. They provide an opportunity for attendees to be led in in-depth discussion and ultimately produce a knowledge resource that furthers the practice of New Urbanism in a specific area. Each Congress provides between 1 - 3 workshops. 
• Tours are mobile sessions that are curated and delivered by the Local Host Committee. Tours provide CEUs and help our attendees gain a multifaceted understanding of the local context - by foot, bike, bus, and boat. They are available as a separate ticketed item. Each Congress provides between 25 - 30 tours. 
• Social Events provide a variety of ways for attendees to connect with each other, socialize, and build networks. Some are curated by CNU and the Local Host Committee, others by Chapters and affiliate groups. If you are interested in developing a social event, contact us.