On Wednesday, February 25, at 6:30 pm, Regional Plan Association and CNU New York partner with the Museum of the City of New York for a timely discussion about urban design theories and their effects on climate change, quality of life and the economy. Download the event Flyer (1.2 MB PDF) for details.
President of RPA will discuss the effects of new urbanism, transit-oriented development, LEED-ND and smart growth in the New York metropolitan region and offer his suggestions for moving forward in this tough economic time. CNU President will comment with his own thoughts about how New York’s urbanism positions it for future success and how the nation as a whole can benefit from the techniques of new urbanism. The evening will begin with an introduction of the region’s New Urbanist precedents, including Jersey City, Forest Hills, Queens, Battery Park City and more.
After the event, join us for a 30-minute informal discussion and networking opportunity. Refreshments will be served.
Reservations are required. Please call 212.534.1672 x3395 or visit to reserve a spot today!
$9 for non-members, $5 for CNU, RPA, APA, ICA and MCNY members.
Museum of the City of New York is located at 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.
This event is presented by CNU New York in partnership with:
Regional Plan Association
American Planning Association - NY, CT and NJ Chapters
With input from the incoming Obama Administration, Congress is now building a stimulus bill that will likely result in the largest investment in U.S. infrastructure since the creation of the interstate highway system.
For this hundred billion or more in spending to leave our country strategically stronger, not weaker, this moment must be used to chart a new direction for our nation’s transportation systems. The stimulus package must fund major investments in public transportation and high-speed rail, one of the causes the T4 America Campaign is leading with CNU’s full support. The bill must fix structurally deficient bridges, rather than target “functionally deficient” highways for expansion-minded rebuilding.
But perhaps most of all, the stimulus must distinguish between the right kind and wrong kind of pavement — those investments that make communities more livable and sustainable versus those that weaken our strategic position and make families frighteningly vulnerable to volatile energy prices.
Recognizing that networks of highly connected walkable streets are at the heart of great urbanism and of emerging standards for green neighborhood development, CNU sent a key proposal to House Transportation Committee Chair James Oberstar the Friday before Christmas, before the door closed on forwarding items for consideration as part of the stimulus bill.
Developed in consultation with transportation engineers Rick Chellman and Brian Bochner, CNU’s Connected Networks Proposal gives Congress and the Obama Administration a simple and direct means for identifying and funding walkable, high-value networks. In contrast to most federal funding programs, which target sections of individual state highways and other major roads in isolation, CNU’s proposal would apply a new “network” designation to entire areas meeting specific connectivity standards. All streets within qualifying network areas, including the local roads that are generally overlooked by the Feds, could receive federal funding to maintain or improve connectivity through projects that address street conditions, traffic distribution, circulation, or multi-modal movement. Cities and towns have lots and lots of these projects ready to go and ready to create green-collar construction jobs.
Image: A Civic Vision for Turnpike Air Rights, Boston, MA, by Goody Clancy and Associates
The eligibility criteria are straightforward, the same connectivity standards we at CNU helped develop for LEED for Neighborhood Development, as part of its innovative partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Portions of cities and towns with intersection densities of 150 per square mile would qualify, as would projects that improve connectivity in a non-networked area so that it meets the 150-intersection-per-mile threshold upon completion.
The measure could be called the green street network proposal because without well-connected networks of walkable urban streets served by transit, there simply can be neither energy-efficient green development nor reliable relief from energy price instability. (See how the combination of walkable street networks and mixed-use city and suburban neighborhoods results in driving levels and driving-related carbon emissions that can be of regional averages.) Or it could be called the livable (and valuable) street networks initiative because connected streets are the necessary framework for enduring neighborhoods where shops, schools, offices and other places that serve our daily needs can be found within convenient walking or biking distance. In a time of turmoil in the real estate markets, there are that these walkable locations are retaining more value and are positioned to take advantage of .
If you want to make sure the stimulus bill funds the pavement that supports green neighborhoods — not just the highways and driving-only locations that worsen our oil addition — ask your Congressperson to support CNU’s Connected Street Network proposal.
Image: Site map of Mixson, North Charleston, SC, developed by I’On Group, rendering by Peter Musty.
In response to soaring fuel costs and the increasing lack of affordable housing in proximity to jobs, schools, shops and open spaces, formed earlier this year. A broad coalition of local, regional, state and national partners, T4American seeks to align our country’s transportation policies with an array of issues like economic opportunity, climate change, energy security, health, housing and community development.
CNU New York is proud to have become a sponsor of this organization. Other coalition partners includes housing, environmental, public health, urban planning and transportation organizations.
Justifiably concerned that our national transportation program does not look to the future, but rather to yesterday’s problems, T4America advocates for the improvement of transit, whether it be inter-city or urban rail, clean buses, streets for safe walking and biking or well-maintained bridges and highways.
On October 15, 2008, outside Grand Central Station, T4America gathered NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, MTA CEO and Executive Director Lee Sander and other transportation officials, Congressman Jerrald Nadler and several coalition partners to call on the next President and Congress to strengthen our economy by building a 21st Century transportation system.
To take action, ask our President-Elect Obama to take the lead by visiting .
NEW URBANISM has convenient solutions for Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth. On July 2nd at the Municipal Art Society, the US Green Building Council LEED Neighborhood Development Chair Doug Farr will present a primer on many of those ideas. His book Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature is an urgent call to action and a comprehensive introduction to “sustainable urbanism”–the emerging and growing design reform movement that combines the creation and enhancement of walkable and diverse places with the need to build high-performance infrastructure and buildings. Of all the recent writings on green architecture and urbanism, Sustainable Urbanism is the most complete introduction to making walkable, sustainable, green communities.
Please join us for his only talk in New York, sponsored by CNU New York, the Municipal Art Society’s Urban Center Books and John Wiley and Sons, Inc., publishers.
is a network of civic and community groups formed in response to the large Atlantic Yards project at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues. The group’s purpose is to inform New Yorkers about the controversial project, so that they can ask the decision-makers to move forward only with a plan that works for Brooklyn.
Atlantic Yards is a proposal by the developer Forest City Ratner to build 16 towers and an arena on a 22 acre site in Prospect Heights. Unfortunately, the plan has been created with no significant input from New Yorkers, and while development of the site could be beneficial, it is the opinion of BrooklynSpeaks that the plan voted on by state officials in December won’t work for Brooklyn.
On June 16, 2008, a coalition of Brooklyn coalition elected officials and civic groups including BrooklynSpeaks gathered on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan to launch the , an initiative to pass new legislation that would reform the governance of the Atlantic Yards project.
CNU New York is a chapter of the national (CNU), the leading organization promoting walkable, neighborhood-based development as an alternative to sprawl.
