Austin Business Journal: Austin to host CNUXVI

New urbanism event being held in Austin
Austin Business Journal
11:17 AM CDT Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Austin's efforts to create a denser and more active urban core have helped
it land a major conference that will draw an estimated 2,000 attendees next
year to learn what the capital of Texas is doing right.

Austin has been selected as the host city for the 16th annual Congress for
the New Urbanism, a leading national forum dedicated to advancing the urban
density model and promoting alternatives to sprawl. The city was chosen
because of a multitude of ongoing projects in keeping with new urbanism --
from new rail systems to the boom in downtown high-rise living.

Efforts to draw new business to the Austin area have paid off handsomely,
with more than 80,000 new jobs created in the last three years, according to
figures from regional economic development initiative Opportunity Austin.
But that kind of population growth coupled with Austin's transportation woes
has led developers to propose new high-density, infill projects in keeping
with New Urbanist principals.

"With the rapid development occurring as more and more people are moving to
our community, its imperative that growth happen in a responsible way," says
Austan Librach, president of the Central Texas CNU Organizing Committee. "We
hope this conference will help promote smart growth in Austin and throughout
Central Texas."

The conference will take place from April 3-6, 2008 at the Austin Convention
Center. The event typically draws attendees ranging from developers to
architects and engineers to city planners.