Returning from CNU 18 -Atlanta GA

The theme of the conference:  New Urbanism:  Rx for Healthy Places

"effective strategies for overcoming the hindering effects of sprawl and disinvestment upon healthy, walkable urban environments ... replacing dysfunctional development with pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods that promote healthy lives, healthy environments, and even healthy wallets."

Areas of discussion included:

• health impacts of sprawl
• transformation of cities through Community Improvement Districts (CID)
• Health Impact Assessments (HIA) as a means of combating obesity and other chronic diseases resulting from the places that we live, work, play, and learn.
• Ongoing "Urban Lab" tasked with offering up solutions to 5 areas of interest to the City of Atlanta including connecting Downtown and the Beltline to "Recreation Centers of Hope" and MARTA Transit Stations as well as improving water use practices.
• Design techniques and Form-Based codes
• Retrofitting Suburbia
• LEED ND and other Community Wide Sustainability Certification Systems
• Small Increment Urbanism
• An address by Shaun Donovan, Secretary of HUD, describing efforts within the government to work cooperatively with Transportation and the EPA; reducing automobile dependency and energy use: increasing livability by changes in policy that will increase mixed use development; as well as an announcement of new funding for projects that reinforce these efforts. 
• Health and transportation:  increase physical activity; improve safety and respiratory health; reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Transit Oriented Development (TOD)
• New Urbanism as an antidote to Water Sustainability;  Clean Water Corridors
• Freeway Teardowns
• Agricultural Urbanism:  Local Food; "Food Deserts"; the Sustainable Region - Greening the land the economy and the built environment with discussion on the "heat island effect" resulting from cities leading to warming beyond that of CO2 emissions.
• Creating Authentic Places - best practices
• New Urbanism and Accessibility especially as it relates to Inclusive Housing (book title) and aging in place; the creation of lifelong neighborhoods.

What is the take away beyond what is bulleted?

• We have come a long way since the days of Urban Renewal and Robert Moses but we have just as far to travel.
• Diversity engenders more sustainable and resilient opportunities for life and growth than a mono-culture.
• We are facing enormous environmental challenges as a result of unsustainable development patterns and carbon-based energy consumption.  They demand cooperation, dialogue, creative thinking, developing new paradigms, re-learning lessons from the past, finding and developing areas for growth that are not based on living on the "capital" of our natural resources.

There is so much more - this is just the tip of the iceberg!

There were networking opportunities; I regret to say that I did miss the opening night session that was focused on cycling in our cities and included David Byrne (of the Talking Heads) who has been stalwart in his commitment to cycling as a means of transportation to the point of traveling with a folding bicycle.

Attached is a link to the CNU Charter Awards through 2009.
http://www.cnu.org/awards
This is a great site to view the form and place making possibilities of New Urbanist principles in practice.  The awards for this year will, I am sure, be posted in the not to distant future.  Of particular interest in the 2010 group are Lifelong Communities: Retrofitting Suburbia for Seniors and Southlands:  Agricultural Urbanism.