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Plenary Sessions
* Indicates ticketed session.
- Athena Medal Awards Plenary
- Closing Plenary: Charles Waldheim and Andres Duany Discuss Landscape Urbanism
- Friday Morning Plenary
- Next Steps: Transgressions and a New Context
- Open Source Plenary
- Open Source Wrap Up and Gallery Walk
- Opening Plenary
- Saturday Morning Plenary
Opening Plenary
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 | 5:15 PM - 6:45 PMAIA credits approved: 1.5 Learning Unit (LU)
AICP CM Credits: 1.25
CNU opens its 19th annual Congress in Madison, Wisconsin with a focus on "Growing Local." Over the course of four days, CNU 19 will investigate the how and why behind the local option. Whether it is biking and walking as a means of transit, or frequenting local organic restaurants and farmer’s markets, the theme of growing local is revolutionizing how development, food systems, and community fabric thrive.
CNU 19 will explore the relationship between humans and their landscape both natural and manmade. And to deliver the opening plenary, CNU welcomes preeminent historian William Cronon, the Frederick Jackson Turner Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Cronon, author of Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West, examines the forces that have shaped the transformation of cities and the interaction with their surrounding ecosystems. Cronon will offer his perspective on how New Urbanists can mend sprawl and create towns and cities that respect historical tradition while remaining sustainable for future generations.
Come early to hear Melanie Hammet, performing songwriter and elected official, offer her unique commentary on urban planning by singing selections from Edifice Complex, her CD inspired by real land-use events.
Dave Cieslewicz, Former Mayor of Madison, City of Madison, WIWilliam J. Cronon, Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Melanie Hammet, Documentary Songmaker, City Councilperson, City of Pine Lake, Georgia
John O. Norquist, President and CEO, Congress for the New Urbanism
Open Source Plenary
Thursday, June 2, 2011 | 9:00 AM - 10:30 AMAIA credits approved: 1.5 Learning Unit (LU)
AICP CM Credits: 1.5
Every year since 2008, the CNU has hosted an informal, parallel Congress in conjunction with the formal CNU program. This parallel event is known as the Open Source Congress, and it's been so inspirational that this year, we're launching it en masse in a plenary. Join us for a rousing introduction to this simple-but-powerful tool for collaboration.
Do you have a new idea that needs refining? Are you looking for help with a conundrum or a project? The Open Source Congress will bring together small groups of enthusiastic people to work with you to tackle your challenge. Just curious? Let us introduce you to the format. Then join a session that interests you, and let the collaboration begin. You’ll be surprised at how much you can learn and accomplish in a short time with a group of like-minded peers.
Jennifer Hurley, CNU-A, President & CEO, Hurley-Franks & AssociatesJennifer Krouse, LEED AP, Independent Management Consultant
Athena Medal Awards Plenary
Thursday, June 2, 2011 | 5:30 PM - 6:45 PMAIA credits approved: 1.25 Learning Unit (LU)
AICP CM Credits: 1.25
CNU will honor three of the most prominent and efficacious urban designers who have influenced new urbanism theory. The Athena Medal for Lifetime Achievement will be bestowed on Fred Koetter, Michael Dennis, and their shared teacher and mentor, Colin Rowe.
Koetter and Dennis’ consideration of the public realm have made them innovators in their field, especially in the creation of walkable, community-focused college campuses. Significant for both Dennis and Koetter, as well as for so many other new urbanists, Rowe remained a true believer in the tenants of good urbanism in a time they seemed all but forgotten. Rowe’s pioneering research, analysis, and teaching of urbanism paved the way not just for the work of Koetter and Dennis, but for the entire New Urbanism movement.
Matthew Bell and Daniel Solomon will introduce the honorees and discuss their motivating impact on new urbanists.
Matthew J. Bell, Architect, Professor, EE&K Architects, University of MarylandMichael Dennis, Principal-in-Charge, Michael Dennis and Associates (MDA)
Steve Hurtt, Professor, University of Maryland
Fred Koetter, FAIA, Senior Associate, Koetter Kim & Associates
Daniel Solomon, Principal, Daniel Solomon Design Partners
Friday Morning Plenary
Friday, June 3, 2011 | 9:00 AM - 10:30 AMAIA credits approved: 1.5 Learning Unit (LU)
AICP CM Credits: 1.5
The stakes are high for American cities and regions. Opportunity knocks as the old ways of doing business, sprawl , give way to renewed consumer preference for the many benefits of urbanism . Meeting this demand requires innovative environmental solutions that add value to the economy. Harvard economist Ed Glaeser, author of the bestseller, Triumph of the City, is an urbanist and a conservative. At a time when conservative politics seems increasingly anti urban, Glaeser praises cities as key to the economic and social success of America. He's expressed his practical-minded approach to civic renewal in recent appearances on NPR, The Daily Show, and as a frequent contributor to the New York Times. As one of the nation's leading intellectuals, Glaeser actively champions the many assets of cities. Stefanos Polyzoides, an architect and developer, is one of the six original founders of CNU. Working as a principle at Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists, Polyzoides has been recognized for design excellence particularly for his ability to incorporate successful architecture into transit oriented development. He is a leader in practice, theory, and delivery of architecture and urban design. Polyzoides' thoughts have informed the foundations for the New Urbanist movement, and for this plenary, he will examine ways in which new urbanism addresses the philosophical challenges within and outside of the movement. What is the state of new urbanism and how can it be sharpened and improved to help people meet the economic and environmental challenges we face as a society? Everyone interested in the foundations and applications of New Urbanist thought should be sure not to miss this special event.
Victor Dover, CNU-A, Principal, Dover, Kohl & PartnersEdward Glaeser, Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics, Harvard University
Stefanos Polyzoides, Principal, Moule & Polyzoides Architects & Urbanists
Next Steps: Transgressions and a New Context
Friday, June 3, 2011 | 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM1.25 AIA Credits. Please check back for updates on AICP Credits
In the emerging economies of the world the discussion begins with high-rise environments. China will grow cities for 300 million in the next 20 years and the a-priori assumption is high-density development. Sadly much of New Urbanism is either silent or overtly against high-rise cities, preferring the comfort and simplicity of what is called ‘low rise, high density’ development. Rather than cul-de-sacs in the sky, the elevator should be seen as the world’s most efficient form of transit – and towers as engines that fuel street life. Incapable of inventing a healthy urban form that takes advantage of the benefits of high-rise cities, New Urbanism is marginalized in what is perhaps the most important city building story to come.
Peter Calthorpe, Author, CNU Co-Founder, and Leading Regional & Community Planner, Calthorpe AssociatesSaturday Morning Plenary
Saturday, June 4, 2011 | 10:00 AM - 11:00 AMAIA credits approved: 1 Learning Unit (LU)
AICP CM Credits: 1
Recently elected Madison Mayor Paul Soglin welcomes you back from the Farmers' market for the Saturday morning session.
Milwaukee farmer Will Allen will lead off. He heads up Growing Power, a non-profit urban agriculture organization in Milwaukee. Will received a MacArthur Fellowship for his work on urban food production. Growing Power has pioneered methods for growing and distributing fish, vegetables, bees, and livestock in an urban environment.
Growing Power utilizes sustainability in all of its activities, composting more than 100,000 pounds of waste per week collected from restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores..
Congressman Earl Blumenauer is a strong CNU ally in Washington. He is the most active Congressional advocate for sustainable transportation choices such as biking,transit and walking. Mr. Blumenauer serves on the powerful Ways and Means Committee and is Vice Chair of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming..
Allen and Blumenauer will address how “Growing Local” works with the principles of New Urbanism. CNU will end the session with a remembrance of architect Michael Barranco.
Will Allen, Growing PowerEarl Blumenauer, Congressman, House of Representatives
Paul Soglin, Mayor of Madison, City of Madison, WI
Open Source Wrap Up and Gallery Walk
Saturday, June 4, 2011 | 12:30PM - 1:45PMPlease check back for updates on AIA and AICP credits
The Open Source Congress Wrap-Up will set the stage to launch into the next round of reforming our built environment. Grab a lunch and then join us to hear short pitches from project sponsors, to reflect on what you’ve learned and where the work is taking you, and to talk with project sponsors in our Project Gallery. Last chance to sign up for a project interest before the Open Source Congress closes!
Jennifer Hurley, CNU-A, President & CEO, Hurley-Franks & AssociatesJennifer Krouse, LEED AP, Independent Management Consultant
Closing Plenary: Charles Waldheim and Andres Duany Discuss Landscape Urbanism
Saturday, June 4, 2011 | 5:30 PM - 7:00 PMAIA credits approved: 1.5 Learning Unit (LU)
AICP CM Credits: 1.25
Chuck Bohl will give a preview of CNU 20 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Chad Emerson will give the Ken Groves eulogy followed by Victor Dover presenting the inaugural Ken Groves Award.
Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk will introduce the session.
CNU welcomes Charles Waldheim, Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture of the Harvard GSD, for a plenary session with Andres Duany. Duany will conduct an interview following a thorough presentation by Professor Waldheim.
Professor Waldheim is the editor of The Landscape Urbanism Reader, which explicitly positions this movement as the ecological alternative and the correction to New Urbanism. The skill sets associated primarily with Landscape Architecture are to be the basis for design at every scale, in contrast to New Urbanism's bias for built form. Landscape Urbanism has been the subject of extreme interpretation, from being the culmination of the century-long environmental imperative to a sort of green cover for the prolongation of an otherwise moribund suburban sprawl.
This plenary will introduce CNU to an influential theory which is currently sweeping design schools, the avant-garde media, and the competition circuit. Landscape Urbanism's engagement with CNU may well become as fruitful as the now-historic ones with the ITE, APA, ULI, LEED, and HUD. . . or perhaps not.
Chuck Bohl, Professor and Director, School of Architecture, University of MiamiVictor Dover, CNU-A, Principal, Dover, Kohl & Partners
Andrés Duany, Principal, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company
Chad Emerson, Director of Development, City of Montgomery
Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Principal , Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company
Charles Waldheim, Chair, Department of Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design