CNU VII: The Wealth of Cities

This year’s Congress was our largest gathering yet, with over 1,000 participants. The breakout sessions and discussions remained tightly aligned with this year’s theme — exploring cities’ inherent strengths and strategies for revitalizing urban centers. Over 150 speakers explored urbanism (both new and old), speaking on topics including Design and the Public Realm, Redesigning Downtown, Investing in the City, Environmental Coalition Building, and Hope VI Update. The energy and excitement were infectious and spilled out of the Congress venues onto the Milwaukee RiverWalk amid the throngs of people at RiverSplash enjoying summer evenings in downtown Milwaukee. getting projects built The real nuts-and-bolts sessions were the biggest draws throughout the Congress. As many people now seem to understand the fundamental design principles of New Urbanism, everyone was asking: “How do we get it built?” The room was packed for the session “Developing New Urbanist Neighborhoods,” where participants heard three developers explain how they succeeded in working through the political processes, financial puzzles, and marketing challenges of completing large- and small-scale new urbanist projects. Similarly practical sessions such as Transforming Main Street Retail and Local Codes: How to Change the Rules of the Game were popular with developers, city officials, and activists alike who are trying to learn how to turn design and good intentions into reality in their communities. Also well attended were sessions addressing diversity and social justice, including: New Urbanism for Whom?, The Architecture of Infill: Does Race Matter?, Developing Affordable Neighborhoods, and Creating Wealth: Revitalization and Gentrification. Lively discussion centered on how policies can create or maintain communities with diverse economic, social, and ethnic backgrounds. Following a panel of mayors (see article on page 3), William Lind and Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation and Bill Millar of the American Public Transit Association announced the release of a new report entitled, Does Transit Work? A Conservative Reappraisal. The study uses conservative ideals to challenge many widely-held libertarian and traditional conservative anti-transit biases and suggests new models for judging the success of transit. political challenges The final day focused on the political challenges of making real changes to entrenched problems faced by US communities. Congressman Earl Blumenauer (Portland, OR) reminded the often apolitical designers, planners, and educators of the critical task at hand. He made the case for increased political mobilization and organization by CNU and our partners in the movement to create livable cities. Blumenauer emphasized that legislators’ attention is dominated by fringe special interest groups who are better mobilized and more focused. Of the 1,006 participants, 282 were new CNU members. Local new urbanists and concerned citizens from Wisconsin and Illinois turned out in force, as they comprised the largest contingent from any region of the country with 337 delegates combined. Forty-one states were represented at CNU VII and international participation continued to be strong, with delegates hailing from five continents (North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia). CNU was even presented with a German translation of the Charter! Thanks to all who participated. It is heartening to see the growing number of people dedicated to creating great urbanism and nourishing livable cities. See you June 15 through 18, 2000, in Portland, Oregon!