APA approves New Urbanism division

In a move that furthers the New Urbanism’s entry into the mainstream of the planning profession, the Board of Directors of the American Planning Association (APA) recently approved the formation of a New Urbanism (NU) division. The division’s mission is to “further the state of the art and transform the practice of community planning through the use and application of the Charter of the New Urbanism,” says Rick Bernhardt, executive director of the Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County Planning Department and a leading force behind the push for the new division. APA divisions are topical interest groups organized and led by individual members with administrative and technical support from the national organization. Existing divisions work on topics such as economic development, housing and human services, and transportation. With the official division status, new urbanist planners gain a platform through sponsoring sessions at APA conventions, and through quarterly newsletters, web pages, and column space in APA’s national publications. “The division can play a critical role reinstating principles of town planning in APA’s criteria for comprehensive planning,” Bernhardt says, and he adds that it will also work with universities to make sure NU is part of the planning curriculum. While the approval does not imply an official endorsement of NU from APA, Bernhardt calls the new division “a significant step” that provides recognition and gives NU a firm position in the operational structure of APA. During the two-year petition process, some within APA have argued that the division would duplicate or compete with the Urban Design Division, “a concern symptomatic of NU’s position in the planning profession,” Bernhardt says. Urban design is just one element of NU, he adds, and the division will focus on training practitioners to understand the connection between community design, land use, transportation, environmental sciences, and finance, so they can move from being neutral administrators to becoming visionary planners. The steering committee of the New Urbanism Division will now seek nominations from the more than 100 members who signed a petition to the Divisions Council and conduct an election for a board of directors. Bernhardt expects this process will be concluded by the middle of this summer.