CNU 18 News: A Historic Partnership, A One-Stop Solution Source
Register now for this groundbreaking event focusing on strategies for delivering the economic, health and social benefits of urbanism in communities everywhere.
01 New Research on Walkability 02 Design for Public Safety 03 Tour Glenwood Park
PLAN NOW TO JOIN US IN ATLANTA
Visit cnu18.org for all the details.
Walkable Neighborhood Partner:
DMB Redwood City Saltworks
Complete Street Partners:
Cornish Associates
Mashpee Commons
A-la-Carte Partner:
WHILE YOU'RE IN ATLANTA
Visit Midtown, Atlanta's most walkable and fastest reurbanizing urban center. Its arteries (Peachtree, West Peachtree and Spring Streets) are rapidly filling in with midrise and highrise mixed-use buildings, and offer some of the city's coolest shopping and dining. The lovely historic residential blocks to their east are thriving, too. (Just north of Downtown, Midtown is served by MARTA's North Avenue, Midtown and Arts Center stations, and bus 110 on Peachtree Street.)
SEE IT AT CNU 18: New Research Shows Walkability, Housing Choice and Transit Reduce Oil Dependency and Promote Health
The new analysis is based on data from SMARTRAQ - Strategies for the Metro Atlanta Region's Transportation and Air Quality - founded by Frank in 1998. SMARTRAQ examined how the layout of Atlanta's neighborhoods, cities and region are associated with travel, and how that in turn affects personal, economic and environmental health. The program tests relationships between obesity, physical activity, travel choice, urban form, and air quality.
For planners, public health officials, and decision makers outside the Atlanta area, SMARTRAQ results offers evidence-based guidance on how transportation investments and development may impact environmental and public health. SMARTRAQ also serves as a model for cross-disciplinary, collaborative, and policy-relevant research and data collection.
Dr. Frank's CNU18 seminar will explore SMARTRAQ and other approaches through case study demonstrations, followed by analyses and step-by-step methods and strategies for improving urban design.
CONGRESS TOPIC: STREET AND NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN FOR PUBLIC SAFETY - SAVING LIVES AND TAX DOLLARS
This initiative provides alternate solutions to conventional suburban street design. Suburban streets are primarily designed to link scattered destinations using high-volume arterials. They limit connectivity by minimizing the network of streets and increasing the number of cul-de-sacs. This decreases the available routes to an address, and increases emergency response times. The higher-volume arterials are associated with higher injury and fatality rates, as shown in research by CNU 18 presenter Norman Garrick, associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Connecticut And the costs of emergency services in suburban areas are higher, too, due to each station having to service a lower density population spread over a larger area, when compared to urban neighborhoods with higher density and well-connected network of streets.
This Wednesday Emergency Response & Street Design Initiative session is open to all CNU 18 and free to any emergency response professionals, to encourage them to work with their local planners and government agencies to implement street designs for greater public safety.
CNU 18 TOUR HIGHLIGHT: GLENWOOD PARK
Tucked between century-old bungalow neighborhoods just two miles from the center of town, pedestrian-focused Glenwood Park was constructed on the site of a former cement factory. Explore this certified EarthCraft Community which offers a full range of housing types, office space, and street-facing retail that use the latest green technologies, creative water management, and preservation landscaping. Keep checking cnu18.org/tours to learn the latest and to sign up for this and other pre-CNU18 tours.
QUICK FACT: Recent research shows that physical activity could be increased and diets made healthier by creating neighborhoods where retail and public facilities are near homes; widening sidewalks; and establishing walking trails within parks.