Board sets strategic agenda for CNU

To date, CNU primarily has focused on creating and building an organization. We have successfully staged our annual Congress, built a core group of members, linked with publications like New Urban News and Places, collaborated with HUD and others on special events, and used the national media to get our message out. Much more needs to be done to accomplish our core mission, which calls for: 1) Promoting interdisciplinary debate and collaboration among professionals and groups supportive of New Urbanism; 2) Educating strategically important groups and individuals about New Urbanism’s principles and practices; 3) Facilitating the implementation of New Urbanism by promoting supportive policies; 4) Conducting or assembling research and documentation that strengthens the case for New Urbanism and addresses opposition. The Strategic Plan represents a guidebook for moving forward with this mission. The areas of emphasis are explained below: defining our audience and communicating A major thrust for the next two years should be to “take control” of our message, rather than letting the media do it for us. We will continue to respond to media requests, but also will initiate coverage and expand our audience through targeted publications and events. A second emphasis will be to target part of our message to the forces that promote NIMBYs, demonstrating to them that the new urbanist agenda is compatible with preserving the quality of life in communities. The diversity of our membership has expanded and the number of allied organizations that recognize CNU is growing. We must build relationships with organizations and begin to act as a coordinator of the “anti-sprawl/pro-smart growth” movement. Similarly, developers have expressed an interest in CNU, but don’t know how to get involved. A venue must be created for them to participate to the same extent that practitioners do now. Finally, we need to reach out to sympathetic academics and practitioners who haven’t become members. setting an action agenda CNU will develop resources for members to respond to criticisms of New Urbanism, provide tools for practitioners and activists in the field, break down barriers to implementation, and set an agenda for policy reform. The Board has prioritized four projects for the upcoming year: • Publishing the Charter Book (see September/October New Urban News). • Creating infill/inner city revitalization principles and strategies • Building a New Urbanism/environmental coalition • Developing model finance tools and an agenda for finance reform Organization structure CNU should run efficiently, respond quickly to requests or events, limit bureaucracy, and support practitioners and activists in the field. The Board will provide leadership and direction. Staff primarily will coordinate activities of members, field requests for information, and ensure that the Board and task forces are able to work smoothly. CNU now is developing a strategy to fully fund our endeavors. More work is needed to shape these ideas into a specific set of activities. The Board will continue its discussion at its February meeting. We will keep you posted.