One of Tindale Oliver's urban designers, Erin Chantry, will be reporting live from CNU20: The New World that is taking place in West Palm Beach, Florida. Attending as a member of the press, she will be writing a series on the importance of integrating transportation, land use, and urban design. It will be based on eight sessions she will be attending, led by the forefront experts in the urban design field.

Looking Forward: New Urbanism and the New World. This morning when I walked into the West Palm Beach convention center, I was very excited to be able to meet and brainstorm with the thinkers at the forefront of my profession, or at least the people that share in the same urban design theology. I had heard rumblings about the culture of the Congress of New Urbanism and certainly knew that the founders of the movement were opinionated and outspoken. I have always admired this about them and was interested to see the vibe that the conference would have. The attraction and numbers of attendees have way outgrown the close dinner group that began New Urbanism more than 20 years ago, but the heavy hitters like Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Ellen Dunham-Jones, and John Norquist, to name a few, no doubt still have a big hand in the direction and focus of the movement. With the combination of professionals who have the reputation for being devotees to their beliefs and fresh new blood like me, anything was possible. Read Article

Space, the First but Not Final Frontier: Analyzing Space, Uses, and Transportation When I chose this breakout session, I didn't really fully understand the title, but I was confident that with "space" and "transportation," it had to be up my alley. It turned out to be a presentation of four of the latest and greatest research papers conducted in the New Urbanism field. As they were discussed, it was a little challenging to string them together with one theme, but when the question and answer session started, it became very clear to me very quickly. This was a discussion on connectivity—more specifically, how connectivity was dependent on the clear distinction between public and private space. Read Article

Why Did We Stop Walking and How Do We Start Again? As you may know, the CNU20 conference was organized around tracks, which allowed you to focus on your particular interest and how it relates to New Urbanism. I spent most of my time on the "Mobility and Walkable City" track since that is where my concentration lies. There is no doubt that the best breakout session of this track was "Why Did We Stop Walking & How Do We Start Again? The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City" presented by Eric Dumbaugh, Richard Hall, and Peter Norton. Read Article

Functional Classification to Realizing Complete Streets for Everyone "Who the heck invited the DOT?" This was John Moore's question to the audience this past week at CNU 20 during the presentation he entitled, "Not Your Grandfather's DOT," as part of the Balanced Roads to Transit-Oriented Development session. His question to the audience was humorous because traffic engineers have gained the reputation in the past as being insensitive and unaware to the many street design qualities required by the CNU Charter and the Complete Streets movement. Moore from District 5 of the Florida Department of Transportation wasn't the only one creating buzz about how the DOT is moving forward to complete streets. Billy Hattaway, the Secretary of District 1, was also present at CNU20, speaking about the Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) Chapter in the Roadway Design Green Book that goes live today. Hattaway's continual presence at CNU and Moore's presentation show that there is a shift that is beginning to occur within the transportation engineering community. Read Article

Building a Culture of Bike Safety In my career I've spent so much time thinking about cars, that I've overlooked the bicycle...until now. After joining Tindale-Oliver & Associates as an urban designer this year I've become involved in the Multimodal Transportation Planning Team that designs bicycle and pedestrian master plans. It has been enlightening to understand the technical and data analysis that is required to make sure cyclists can get where they need to go safely. There are many factors to consider, including facilities, context-sensitivity, implementation, funding, and regional and local policies. It is a much more complicated process than you would expect. Read Article

Clearer Thinking: Urbanism + Transit Jarrett Walker, author of Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking About Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives, told us he was at CNU20 to preach a little fire and brimstone:  transportation planner to new urbanist. While I wouldn't call it brimstone, he definitely spoke passionately about real issues that need to be considered in enriching people's lives. While I certainly subscribe to most New Urbanist principles, and am a card-carrying member of the Congress for the New Urbanism, I appreciated Walker's candid challenge of the art behind the movement. He began his lecture by saying, “You know all those little people you draw in pastel and watercolor? Well, they are citizens of society, not going where you think they will, but where they want to.” That was a straight shot on the idealistic "if you build it, they will come" mentality that exists among some members of the CNU. Him, you, me...all of us…want to feel in control and active in how we navigate our built environment. Read Article

Reflections on My Morning with Leon Krier I was on a pretty big CNU high until this past Saturday morning when Leon Krier brought me back to reality. Leon Krier is a described neo-traditional architect and architectural theorist who has been a consistent influence on the New Urbanism movement, from his hand in developing the Seaside master plan to his planning of Poundbury, the most well-known New Urbanism development in the United Kingdom. Introduced as the “Godfather of New Urbanism,” he was also described as the intellectual backbone of the movement. The plenary session focused on two issues that he believes the CNU leaves unresolved:  the limit of high density and the architectural style and construction of buildings. Read Article

CNU20: Final Reflections It's been one week since I started out on my first CNU journey and, overall, it was a wonderful one. I am still wallowing through all my reflections on my week in West Palm Beach and have been able to express many of them through posts I've written. I have believed in the movement and adhered to the CNU Charter in my own way since I wrote my MA dissertation on "New Urbanism in Suburban America: Strategies for the Implementation of LEED-ND" a few years ago. I've long considered myself a New Urbanist, but this was my first direct interaction with the organization. Here are a few final reflections on my experience: Perhaps one of the most impressive things about my time at CNU20 were the people I met at the heart of the movement – not necessarily what they said, or how they said it, but their surrounding energy. I was most impressed with Ellen Dunham-Jones. I already knew her ideas, they are great, but that's not what impressed me this week. What impressed me was her keen sense of natural leadership. She is kind, articulate, impassioned, and respectful with an air of carefree positivity. I immediately felt like she was the type of person who would be my mentor, as I am sure she is to many at Georgia Tech. I almost applied there after attending Georgia Tech Architecture Career Discover Camp the summer of 1999, but didn't. This week, spending time with Ellen made me seriously regret it. Read Article