CNU 19: Growing Local a rousing success!
CNU 19 welcomed over 1100 attendees in Madison, many of whom were overheard saying that this year’s Congress was the best one ever. From the stirring Opening Night Plenary from William Cronon, to the interactivity of the Open Source Congress, to the challenges brought against new urbanist orthodoxy by conservative economist Ed Glaeser and Landscape Urbanism leader Charles Waldheim, and to the numerous lively, debate-inducing, idea-generating, and city-saving sessions held throughout the four-day affair, CNU 19 solidified the Congress’s place as the premier venue for spearheading the conversations that inform the design and shape of our communities.
Participation and interaction were the cornerstones of this year’s Congress. As Planetizen’s Tim Halbur wrote of the event, “the Congress for the New Urbanism (19 this year) is a living, breathing forum, a discussion that is historically ripe with different approaches and solutions.” And solutions abounded at every scale during CNU 19, from the international level — as showcased in sessions such as “China: The Next Frontier” and the “Founders’ Overseas Projects” — to the local level. Sessions focused on the historic Madison plans of John Nolen, as well as looked toward the future for the host city. The AuthentiCITY design competition, wherein a panel judged plans for the stalled-development Union Corners site, awarded the Woonerf plan, courtesy of Orlando, FL’s Canin Associates, top honors. The confluence of past and present solutions rang throughout the Congress.
Such a successful gathering of determined urbanists and prominent thinkers has already garnered much attention in the press, with media outlets from Planetizen, Grist, The Nation, The Cap Times, and writers such as Anthony Flint and Matt Dellinger weighing in on the CNU 19 experience.
Relive CNU 19 by accessing just some of the media material that can be found online via the following links:
• Complete Press Clips
• Live Blog Archive
• Video Series Archive
And be sure to login to your CNU.org account to access webcasts of the majority of CNU 19 presentations.
