CNU Salons
What's your balloon story?
Submitted by Ben Schulman on Sat, 05/12/2012 - 12:24pmWhat's your balloon story?
WATCH LIVE: Friday Night Plenary with Richard Florida
Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 05/11/2012 - 3:40pmRichard Florida, author of the best-selling Rise of the Creative Class and The Great Reset, speaks at CNU 20 on May 11.
Florida is the founder of the Creative Class Group, currently heads the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and is a senior editor at Atlantic Magazine, having recently created the Atlantic Cities program.
Thank you for watching the live-stream. We will have the video archive available soon:
Calthorpe on Chinese urbanism
Submitted by MLewyn on Fri, 05/11/2012 - 12:16pmPeter Calthorpe spoke this morning on Chinese urbanism- the good and the bad. From a new urbanist perspective, the good includes density and transportation: Chinese cities tend to be more compact than ours, and the government seeks to limit car use to a 20% modal share (i.e. 20 percent of all trips by car- still an increase over the current 12 percent share).
The bad: lots of streets that are too wide to comfortably cross, and lots of blocks that tend to be on the long side.
Voting Closes at Noon Sharp for CNU Board Elections
Submitted by Ben Schulman on Fri, 05/11/2012 - 9:03amVoting for the first-ever CNU Board Elections closes today sharply at Noon.
To vote, follow the instructions below:
1. Login to your CNU.org account at www.cnu.org/user.
2. Meet the Candidates by clicking here.
3. Cast your vote at www.cnu.org/2012boardelections/candidates.
This is your Congress. Vote now.
how walking became a crime
Submitted by MLewyn on Thu, 05/10/2012 - 4:14pmI just heard an amazing set of presentations by Eric Dumbaugh and Peter Norton (author of a new book, Fighting Traffic). Dumbaugh begin with a statistical table listing causes of pedestrians being killed by cars; nearly every cause somehow showed pedestrians at fault (e.g. jaywalking, pedestrian using electronic device, etc.). In essence, our culture presumes that if a pedestrian is killed by a 2-ton vehicle, the pedestrian rather than the driver is generally at fault.
Tumlin on parking
Submitted by MLewyn on Thu, 05/10/2012 - 2:53pmThis afternoon, Jeffrey Tumlin spoke on how to reform parking to reduce the negative results of minimum parking requirements. (If you're not familiar with them, google "Donald Shoup"). Some of his solutions were stuff I've heard before: abolish parking requirements, create residential permit systems to reduce the threat of spillover parking, and set market prices for parking to discourage driving. But I heard a few neat ideas I hadn't heard before.
Such as:
1. If a city does have a parking permit system (i.e.
Duany speech at Thurs. morning CNU plenary: Why Code?
Submitted by MLewyn on Thu, 05/10/2012 - 12:47pmFor me, the highlight of CNU 20 so far was Andres Duany's speech at this morning's plenary session. Most of his speech was about the SmartCode, responding to libertarian objections. He said, in so many words: if we don't code, and if we don't consider aesthetics when we do, someone else will (usually a local aesthetic review committee or zoning board). He added that given the United States' century-long history of bureaucratic control over land use, the most likely alternative to coding is not the free market, but decisionmaking by bureaucratic discretion.
WATCH Live: Looking Forward: New Urbanism and the New World
Submitted by Ben Schulman on Thu, 05/10/2012 - 5:39amAs we enter CNU's third decade, economic, political, and environmental conditions pose serious challenges for the built and natural environment, as well as New Urbanist practice.
Andres Duany will present the 21st century crises that call for New Urbanists to adapt, including slow development, the public process, suburban retrofit, agricultural urbanism, and the theology of metrics. Dan Solomon will discuss the tensions between new urbanism's roots in the nuanced complexity of the city and the reductive codifying of New Urbanist practice.
The Live #cnu20 Twitter Feed
Submitted by Ben Schulman on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 1:59pmThe Live #CNU 20 Twitter Feed
Re imagining the SRO as an affordable housing type
Submitted by Heather Smith on Wed, 05/09/2012 - 12:18pmReading Eric Kleinenberg's latest book Going Solo has a new relevance for New Urbanism and links directly to CNU 20. In an increasingly urbanized world how do we provide for our most neglected populations: the single and homeless?
It was gratifying to read Kelinenberg's focus on a new innovative solution: bringing back the SRO or single room occupancy building as a housing type but with a focus on a diverse populations.