CNU Comes To Denver

"When Denver hosted the sixth Congress for the New Urbanism in 1998, the design movement was perceived as a fringe group of idealistic planners and vaguely elitist tree-huggers.

Now, far from being eschewed as elitist, the principles of new urbanism are not only widely accepted, they also have become a recipe for survival.

Next week, June 10-14, the CNU is convening in Denver for a second time. And in barely more than a decade, the realities of global warming, America's energy dependence and economic uncertainty have set in.

In today's Perspective, some nationally known leaders in new urbanism write about the challenges and opportunities for development. (Three articles included)

From Denver tops in retrofitting suburbia:

"With a major airport and its runways in the process of becoming multiple neighborhoods, and seven out of 13 regional malls transformed in innovative ways, the Denver metro area is leading the country in suburban retrofits. The large number of retrofits and new transit investments across the Denver region illustrate the opportunity to reorganize first-ring suburbs into a comprehensive, multi-centered metropolitan structure using "incremental metropolitanism."

From Stapleton, LoDo, Belmar redefine "community": "Stapleton and Belmar are living laboratories where we are perfecting the lost art of building communities. They prove that there is strong market demand for walkable, people-oriented places. They prove that car-dominated sprawl is only one version of the American dream.

The Congress for the New Urbanism is focused on removing barriers to the development of mixed-use, walkable communities. CNU's top priority is to develop national guidelines to make it easier to build traditional street networks."

Cathorpe writes on The Stapleton paradigm admirable:

"Stapleton's density is three times that of area suburban development. It achieves this by offering a range of housing types, from apartments over shops, live-work lofts and clustered single-family homes. And Stapleton homes command a premium price."

Thanks to Annie Dawid