Archive for CNU

CNU 19 – Madison, Wisconsin is Coming Soon

Posted in Events, Landscape Architecture, Sustainability, Town Planning, Urban Planning and Design, Urbanism with tags , , , on May 20, 2011 by John Olson

Beautiful Madison, Wisconsin. Photo by Eric Tadsen; Courtesy of Greater Madison CVB.

We are coming up on only one more week until the Congress for the New Urbanism’s annual conference.  This year, it is held in Madison, Wisconsin and I could not be anymore excited for CNU this year.  Unfortunately, I was unable to make it to Atlanta for last year’s Congress, so I am excited to make it back again.  In the prior year’s, I had the privilege to attend the Congress (or conference) in Philadelphia, Austin and Denver.

This year’s Congress has many exciting presentations and the diversity of topic areas is continually growing.  The following are individual presentations that I am particularly excited to see:

What are Livable Communities? – Dan Burden

Low Impact Suburbia vs. Light Imprint Urbanism – Presenters include Light Imprint author Tom Low

The New Urbanism and the Bicycle – Presenters include Victor Dover and co-author of the Smart Growth Manual, Mike Lydon

Various Sprawl Retrofit Presentations including authors Ellen Dunham-Jones and Galina Tachieva

Megatrends: Technologies and Techniques that are Changing the Built World – Presenters include Steve Mouzon

Landscape Urbanism Debate with Andres Duany and Charles Waldheim

In addition, this year is going to feature Open Source more than the past.  This is a great opportunity to discuss urbanism with your peers and suggest your own topics of conversation.  Hope to see you in Madison!

Smart Growth in Small Towns and Rural Communities – Salida, Colorado

Posted in Comprehensive Planning and Codes, Events, Landscape Architecture, Streetscapes, Sustainability, Town Planning, Urban Planning and Design, Urbanism with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 19, 2011 by John Olson

My involvement with CNU Colorado (Congress for the New Urbanism, Colorado) over the past five years has allowed me the opportunity to assemble and coordinate many events.  This winter/spring, I am coordinating together the biggest and best of the events that I have been a part of to date.  With the persuasion of colleague Paul Crabtree, of The Crabtree Group, Inc., I am coordinating the Smart Growth  in Small Towns and Rural Communities Workshop in Salida, Colorado on April 8.  The following is a summary of the presentations that will be discussed during the April 8th workshop.  The descriptions were assembled by the presenters associated with each presentation.

What Really is Smart Growth? (Paul Crabtree & Joe De Luca)

The Ten Principles of Smart Growth, the differences between Smart Growth and New Urbanism, the past and future of Smart Growth.

Form-based Codes and the Rural-to-Urban Transect (Paul Crabtree & Joe De Luca)

A brief history of zoning codes and form-based codes.  Why the pedestrian shed and Rural-to-Urban Transect are key tools for form-based codes. What’s so special about the SmartCode?

Architecture of Place  (Hoyt Cousins)

The presentation shall identify design contributions to social and economic resilience, at the local scale, of small towns at the edge of metropolitan areas.  An array of techniques for diminished resources in planning and development can be organized in a hierarchy:  from region and sector to conditions of settlement types, neighborhood and transect zone, block and street, building and lot.  The primary focus will be on building types and architectural configuration – in response to current challenges of lower incomes, changing employment opportunity, unpredictable market demand, restricted financing, the loss of personal and public equity, and shrinking municipal budgets and services.

Transportation Planning for Rural and Small Towns (Jim Charlier)

This session will provide baseline information about transportation and energy trends as they affect rural Colorado and Chaffee County.  If rural places far from major cities are to thrive and be sustainable over the next two decades, significant innovation and strategic investments will be required.  Given limited financial resources and an ongoing recession, what can small cities and towns do to prepare for the post-petroleum era?  Jim will summarize findings and results from recent national studies of the mobility and access needs of rural America.

LEED-ND: Group Discussion (Stella Hodgkins and John Olson)

As a group, or potentially as multiple groups, we will analyze the applicability of LEED-ND (or LEED for Neighborhood Development) as it relates to a small town or neighborhoods within the small town. Case study towns of Salida, Buena Vista and/or Poncha Springs are potential towns to be analyzed.

Agricultural Urbanism (Korkut Onaran)

The Agricultural Urbanism session will review some of the recent form-based coding practices the presenter has participated and discuss the challenges and opportunities in integrating food production in urban areas without compromising walkability. The presentation will particularly focus on Transect 3, usually called “suburban,” or “garden district,” a name the author likes better.

Context-Sensitive Landscapes (John Olson)

Presentation will be based on the dynamics of landscape as they relate to the urban-to-rural transect. Topics regarding landscape will include productive or edible landscapes, streetscape design and specific landscape issues and opportunities in the Mountain West region.

Panel Discussion with Presenters

Our Presenters will Discuss and Respond to Questions and Comments from the audience regarding the presentations and that the state of urbanism today.

 

Colorado Springs Sustainability Bike Tour

Posted in Urbanism with tags , , , , , , on September 8, 2010 by John Olson

In late June, CNU Colorado, USGBC SoCo, Bike Colorado Springs, AIA Colorado and APA Colorado co-hosted a sustainability bike tour in Colorado Springs.  Recently, the staff at the city of Colorado Springs updated their website to include photos from the tour as well as a map for residents to try out the tour themselves.  Staff also added additional stops to the tour, which we may just have to do next year:  The following is the link:  http://www.springsgov.com/Page.aspx?NavID=3348

For previous bike tour information, see the following link: Bike Tour Photos; Additional Information

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