Preservation, Transportation and New Urbanism

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The following interview appeared in the Preservation Leadership Forum blog on September 4th, 2014. The blog is produced by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the article was written by Elizabeth Byrd Wood.

If Lynn Richards had her way, we would all hop on bikes, board a city bus, or set out on foot to buy groceries, commute to work, or take our kids to daycare. Richards is the new president and chief executive officer of the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU), a nonprofit membership organization with members in more than 20 countries and 49 states. But Richards admits that taking a toddler to daycare on a bike when it is raining is impractical. So instead she recognizes the need for “transportation fluidity.”

Transportation fluidity is just one aspect of community life Richards will be promoting in her new role at CNU. She will also be focusing on improving transportation corridors, revitalizing Main Streets, and promoting good design for urban spaces. Richards, a nationally recognized smart growth expert, started at CNU in July. Before that she was with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Sustainable Communities, holding multiple leadership roles over 13 years including acting director and policy director in the Office of Sustainable Communities. She has worked with dozens of state and local governments to implement placemaking approaches by developing policies, urban design strategies, and environmental solutions for lively, prosperous communities.

Forum staff recently spoke with Richards by phone about her new position, and asked how she views the intersection between historic preservation and New Urbanism.

Richards says that both have the same focus: supporting livable communities. CNU was established in 1993 with the goal of promoting walkable, mixed-use neighborhood development; sustainable communities; and healthier living conditions. CNU members use the principles in CNU’s charter to promote the hallmarks of New Urbanism, including livable streets arranged in compact, walkable spaces; a range of housing choices; schools and stores accessible by walking, bicycling, or using public transit services; and a human-scaled public realm where appropriately designed buildings define and enliven streets and other spaces.

Richards wants to dispel any myths that CNU is just about creating new buildings and new neighborhoods. Instead, she says that its members take their “lessons from the past”—they consider the ways that communities were originally built and use this as the roadmap for creating vibrant and livable new communities, or adapting and revitalizing existing ones. “Our members feel strongly about authenticity and they talk a lot about ‘old bones,’” she explains. They recognize the importance of maintaining existing fabric when retrofitting transportation corridors and revitalizing Main Streets.

She cites Dover Knolls in Dutchess County, New York, as an example of a New Urbanist project that uses historic preservation as a key element in the revitalization of a place. The architectural firm of Torti Gallas and Partners, which is committed to the principles found in the Charter for New Urbanism, turned an old psychiatric facility along a commuter rail line into a vibrant new community complete with a Main Street and train station.

Collaborative partnerships are an important part of the work of CNU. The organization has 17 chapters in the United States and one in Canada. Richards encourages local and statewide preservation organizations to get on CNU chapter mailing lists and attend local brown bag discussions and events, to find common ground.

She would like to get away from nomenclature—sustainability, smart growth, historic preservation, and so on—and instead get the word out that we all working toward related goals. Richards says, “Our organizations are impacting people’s lives, and [New Urbanists and preservationists] both want the same thing—to make places that people love.”