CNU VII to examine and celebrate ‘the wealth of cities’

annual congress An ambitious agenda includes the exploration of ways to promote and sustain an urban renaissance in the 21st Century. This year the Congress for the New Urbanism will convene its seventh annual conference, CNU VII: The Wealth of Cities, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from June 3 to 6. This Congress comes at a crucial time for urban advocates. Issues of livability and the physical form of communities are increasingly appearing on city council agendas, in local and statewide campaigns, and in the national media. As decision-makers begin to realize that suburbanization has profound social, economic, and environmental consequences, CNU and its allies need to promote cities and the advantages of urban living. After years of neglect, cities are staging an unexpected comeback. Once known for their abandoned storefronts and empty apartment blocks, dangerous parks and polluted waterways, cities have begun to capitalize on their own strengths, rebuilding riverfronts and reclaiming public squares and urban parks. For the first time in decades, they are drawing residents back to downtown, and not only in places like Milwaukee, Chicago, Philadelphia, and St. Louis, but in young cities without traditional urban centers like Phoenix and Houston. Recognizing and promoting urban strengths Will this renaissance last? For half a century planners, public officials, and developers have promoted the suburbs, placing an emphasis on new outward growth and the short-term investment that accompanies it. Yet many citizens and leaders are discovering that even the most prosperous suburbs are not able to offer what an urban center can: a vibrant, diverse public realm. CNU believes that a real revitalization of cities is only possible if we recognize and promote their strengths. Unlike many suburbs, cities are able to achieve a density that makes transit feasible and walking pleasurable. They are able to attract and maintain real diversity — racial, economic, and cultural. Cities are independent economies, drawing on the success of businesses, industries, and residential neighborhoods, offering in turn an array of services, employment, and housing for all ages and incomes. They are centers of culture, the sites of major civic institutions. Properly cared for, cities are able to sustain a unique and defining sense of place that will make them valuable to future generations. The Congress will examine the ways in which we can capitalize on these strengths, and examine strategies for reinvestment and revitalization. The Milwaukee experience Milwaukee has seen significant change under the leadership of three-term Mayor John Norquist, an advocate of New Urbanism in city planning, development, and transportation decisions. The city has revitalized a largely abandoned riverfront with new housing, waterfront bars and cafes, and the mile-long RiverWalk. It has lured homeowners back to the city with new market-rate developments, begun to change its zoning codes to accommodate more traditional urban development, and made plans to take down urban freeways which disrupt the scale and fabric of the city. What can we learn from these early efforts to revitalize urbanism and the public realm? What challenges remain? CNU VII will draw on the experiences of Milwaukee, the greater Chicago region, and other progressive urban centers nationwide. For information on registration for CNU VII, call (800) 788-7077 or go to www.cnu.org. u