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| Downtown Detroit |
Having given
a pair of updates on efforts to change the political picture
in my town and provided urbanist marching orders for
the week, it’s time to return to the highlights of CNU 24, the annual meeting
of the Congress for the New Urbanism, held a month ago in Detroit.
I previously
provided the best of Andres Duany, who was so prolix, in a good way, that I
needed two posts to cover his thoughts.
Today I’ll
move on to Kaid Benfield, a man whose quiet but eloquent love for the subtle
points of good cities has caused him to appear often in this blog when he still
with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
He has since moved to PlaceMakers LLC, taking him further from my radar,
but I still looked forward to hearing him speak in person for the first time.
He didn’t
disappoint.
As before, the quotes are reconstructed from
my notes and are likely imprecise, but capture Benfield’s intent.
On the job
still to be done: “Anyone who thinks that battle for good urbanism is already
over, whether won or lost, should remember that by 2050, half of built
environment then in place will have been built after today.”
On the current
breakdown of CO2 emissions by sector: “Buildings 44.6 percent, transportation
34.3 percent, and industry 21.1 percent.”
With urbanism directly impacting the first two, it has a key role to
play in combating climate change.
On knowing
when public places are working: “The indicator species for public places are
kids and elders. If both are present,
the public place is working.”
And lastly,
on the six strategies for good community planning:”1 – Guide development to the
right places, in urban cores and along transit routes. 2 – Make America
walkable again. In 1969, 48 percent of
children walked to school, today 13 percent do.
3 – Integrate nature into the urban fabric. 4 – Get buildings right, starting with
energy. 5 – Employ density with
sensitivity. 6 – Create places that
people love and will retain, which is a literal version of sustainability.”
(For those
who want to dig deeper into the six strategies, here is an earlier version, slightly different in its emphases, but
equally valid.)
It’s all
good, thoughtful stuff. As a Parks
Commissioner in my town, I tour a set of assigned parks monthly. Although not as many as I’d like, I often
find children playing there, but rarely do I see seniors hanging out, with the
possible exception of myself. It’s a
point I need to ponder.
The session
was one more reminder of why I love going to CNUs.
When I next
write, I’ll provide a collection of links on regional transit planning in the
Bay Area. It’s a subject on which I wrote about almost exactly a
year ago, shortly after I returned from CNU 23.
A year later, spurred by coverage on the topic in the New York Times, a
number of organizations are taking a hard look at the subject.
As always,
your questions or comments will be appreciated.
Please comment below or email me.
And thanks for reading. - Dave Alden (davealden53@comcast.net)
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