CNU XIV team develops a bold, implementation-focused Congress

Providence, Rhode Island, is not the kind of place that leaves its urban plans on the drawing boards. In the past 20 years, city leaders have freed the city’s riverfront from a concrete tomb, moved rail lines to the edge of downtown, and started relocating I-195 from the revitalizing Jewelry District. Tending at the same time to the city’s fine-grained fabric, they’ve unlocked astounding real estate value and boosted the city’s quality of life. The organizers of CNU XIV are just as determined to move decisively and deliver results. Realizing that the true test of New Urbanism comes not just in the formation of outstanding plans but in the implementation of those plans, they are focusing the Congress tightly around the theme of Developing the New Urbanism. Developers will be part of just about every session, often joining architects, planners, scholars and others in conversations that embody the collaborative spirit that makes for great urbanism. Early event registration opens March 1 and the Congress itself comes to Providence June 1-4. The Congress program is designed to move the discussion from the presentation of ideas, challenges, and models to collective work on implementation challenges. In addition to expanding the pool of new urbanist developers — both by showing conventional developers how New Urbanism can add value to their projects and by cultivating new developers from within the movement’s ranks — the Congress will create a lively debate “about how New Urbanism can become the de facto way we build communities in the United States,” says Buff Chace, developer and chair of the CNU XIV local host committee. To achieve this especially productive learning environment, the Providence Congress will employ a range of unique program features. Here is just some of what participants will find on the CNU XIV program: Compelling speakers The team behind the Providence Congress — from members of the local host committee to board advisors Todd Zimmerman, Stephanie Bothwell, and Andres Duany — is serious about using plenary sessions to bring together CNU XIV attendees for an important shared learning experience. On the first full day of the Congress, real estate markets expert Todd Zimmerman will help establish a framework for understanding new urbanist development, moderating a plenary talk show featuring veteran developers such as Lucy Billingsley, cofounder of Dallas-based Billingsley Company, and David Pace, lead developer of Baldwin Park in Orlando. Marilyn Jordan Taylor, a partner in the New York office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, will speak about her role as chair of the Urban Land Institute, exploring the increasingly important relationship between New Urbanism and the nation’s largest urban developer organization. The plenary slate will also feature blockbuster urban designers and design theorists with important views on design and development. Architect, urbanist, and famed author of the seminal work, A Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander will propose a reconception of the development process around the concepts of organic growth guided by generative coding. Architect and urban planner, Léon Krier — the pioneer of traditional urbanism and perhaps its most effective polemicist — will lecture on the current backlash against the New Urbanism in the United States and Europe. After leading new urbanists in historic posthurricane charrettes in Mississippi and Louisiana — and proving New Urbanism indispensable in tackling today’s biggest planning challenges — CNU cofounder Andrés Duany will deliver a lecture entitled “Katrina: New Urbanism at the Tipping Point.” Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has also been invited to address the Congress. Top-level councils New in 2006, four multipart Councils will explore topics central to the theme of implementation. Under the guidance of recognized experts, the councils will create an intensive setting for examining obstacles to the implementation of new urbanist projects and for advancing realistic and viable solutions. These councils will complement a full array of single-session seminars and workshops. The council structure will help move the discussion beyond static presentations toward fruitful collaboration. After a 45-minute presentation by a compelling speaker, a “jury” of experts will advance the discussion. Then instead of disbanding and letting good ideas dissipate, the panelists and presenters will reconvene to document the points of agreement, identify issues that remain unresolved, and to draft an action plan for the future. The findings of these councils will later be circulated to all Congress attendees and CNU members. The council topics are the most urgent issues facing new urbanists today, including: • Confronting the housing crisis: A council focused on strategies for making the supply of desirable housing meet demand. • Building public-private partnerships: Elected officials, planners, and developers discussing the best ways to build partnerships that get projects financed and built. Topics include how to convince policymakers that new urbanist developments are beneficial and financially viable and how to persuade officials to streamline the regulatory process to promote good urbanism. • Responding to disaster: A first-hand report and inquiry by the leaders of the 2005 Mississippi Renewal Forum, which helped coastal cities and towns both respond to catastrophe and create plans for stronger, better communities. Although groundbreaking as an event, the forum has led to an even more important set of implementation opportunities and challenges, which the council will explore in depth. • Building the New Urbanism: A council that convenes developers, designers, and planners for a stimulating conversation on best practices and tools for getting more New Urbanism built nationwide.