Exciting changes improve CNU.org as member tool

Six years after debuting a website that was advanced for its time, CNU has rebuilt and relaunched CNU.org to help members learn about New Urbanism, share knowledge, and stay connected. The site is designed to communicate more effectively — and more graphically — with visitors as well. The new CNU.org features enhanced versions of popular features such as the image bank and database of new urbanist projects. But the new site also takes advantages of advances in open-source technology that make online networking and community-building features available to nonprofit organizations such as CNU. The new CNU.org will function as a common place for members from around the world to gather and discuss New Urbanism. Since new urbanists are focused on physical community-building and function as part of an international movement, these tools are particularly well suited to CNU, says CNU President and CEO John Norquist. “Members can now use the web to stay better connected between Congresses and other major events. And an active online community has the potential to make members more effective in their work.” The changes at CNU.org make the member experience more inviting and interactive, starting with convenient log-in and password retrieval procedures. New interactive salons allow members to discuss topics that matter to them – and use advanced search engines to find valuable past discussions. The site accommodates growing archives of multimedia files — audio, video, articles, and slideshows — from past CNU events and publications. It invites members to build profiles, which display to the public in a professional directory and to other members as more personalized profiles featuring interests and links to the content each member has contributed to CNU.org. And there’s more, including PDF versions of New Urban News and RSS feeds that allow you to keep track automatically of changes at your favorite part of the site. Expect to hear more about how to use these features in coming months. In the meantime, visit CNU.org to explore the growing world of New Urbanism online. Haifa hosts Isreali urbanists Haifa made the news last summer when it was under rocket attack. This December, the beautiful hillside port city bore only a few war scars but still presented many planning challenges as it played host to more than 300 Israeli urbanists for the second annual conference of the Movement for Israeli Urbanism, an organization closely aligned with CNU and its principles. Organizers of the conference, titled City Action, aimed to introduce Israelis to the ideas of New Urbanism while working specifically on the challenge of renewing the historic fabric of Haifa, home to Israel’s largest port and its third-largest urban population. The conference mixed plenary addresses and workshops presenting the work of local planners and activists who collaborated with residents on neighborhood-scale planning projects before the conference. With government officials, students, and urban designers participating in the workshops, the presentations on topics such as streetscape design and bus-rapid-transit systems generated much discussion. One lively exchange centered on public participation, with new urbanists arguing passionately for enhanced stakeholder involvement and Israelis describing and sometimes defending a more top-down approach. Several foreign guests presented new ideas to the Israelis. Jaime Lerner, former mayor of Curitiba, Brazil, opened the conference by discussing his work using “urban acupuncture” to revive older city infrastructure worldwide. CNU Planning Director Heather Smith gave a presentation on form-based codes and new techniques in street design, urban designer Michael Mehaffy presented on generative coding, and New Jersey developer Ralph Zucker spoke on making a profit from New Urbanism. The closing session focused on helping Haifa overcome its reputation as a sleepy university town, to emerge as a center of innovation. One of the outcomes of the conference was a CD toolbox of regulations, guidelines, and case studies designed to promote change within the government. Demand was so high that the MIU webmaster burned disks as fast as participants could buy them. Irit Solzi, Yodan Rofe, and Dror Gershon deserve credit for their work organizing the event and getting hundreds of Israelis to embrace New Urbanism. For Heather Smith’s travelogue and more on the MIU, visit www.cnu.org/node/638.