UB's School of Architecture and Planning Plays Lead Role in Congress for New Urbanism's National Conference in Buffalo

The Congress for New Urbanism is an international grassroots movement that promotes planning and design solutions for walkable, mixed-use neighborhood development, sustainable communities and healthier living conditions. Some of the latest issues in urban development are on the table for discussion at the conference, including tactics for micro-scale and “lean” urbanism, bike-friendly street design and strategies for removing freeways from downtowns.

Dean Robert G. Shibley says the siting of the organization’s 22nd annual conference in Buffalo presents a prime opportunity to showcase both the School of Architecture and Planning and the Buffalo region as leaders in the development of planning and policy solutions to these questions.

“This conference brings international attention to our work and to our region during one of the most promising times for the rebirth of cities and new ways of thinking about how we plan and design our communities,” said Shibley, who will moderate and present at several of CNU22’s workshops. “With the nation’s leading research labs on food systems planning and accessible design, and our faculty and students directly engaged in the plan-making behind Buffalo’s renaissance, the School of Architecture and Planning is catalytic. It brings new knowledge and models of practice to the process of the Buffalo comeback story.”

Indeed, the School of Architecture and Planning has played a lead role in the conference, with several faculty members organizing workshops and events, and many others participating as panelists, presenters and facilitators. Among the topics they will address are equitable and environmentally sensitive urban development, accessible housing, transportation and food access, and urban design strategies for Niagara Falls. School of Architecture and Planning students have also led the conference’s engagement of the next generation of urban planners and will host several related events across the region.

The conference will take place in the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, 153 Franklin St, Buffalo, and at sites throughout the region. It opened Wednesday, June 4, and runs through Saturday, June 7. For more information, please visit: https://event.crowdcompass.com/cnu22/

Among the CNU22 events featuring School of Architecture and Planning faculty and students are:

• Redefining Access to Housing, Transportation, & Healthy Food (Sat., June 7, 12:30 – 1:45 pm). Edward Steinfeld, professor of architecture and director of the School of Architecture and Planning’s Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access (IDeA Center), along with Jeanne Leccese, program coordinator for Growing Food Connections at the Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab, will explore universal design principles at work in transportation, housing and food systems. Will Stoner, associate state director for AARP Livable Communities, will also participate. Jordana Maisel, director of outreach and policy studies for the IDeA Center, organized the workshop and will serve as moderator.
• Resiliency, Regional Planning, & Frameworks for Urban Development (Fri., June 6, 2 – 3:30 pm) Dean Robert Shibley is among several experts participating in a conversation on environmentally-sensitive development and the effects of climate change and severe weather events on urban infrastructure. One Region Forward, a sustainable development planning initiative for Buffalo Niagara being led by the School of Architecture and Planning’s UB Regional Institute, as well as New York City’s response to Hurricane Sandy, will serve as case studies. School of Architecture and Planning alumnus Alexander Morris, an architect with Wallace Roberts and Todd, a Philadelphia-based architecture and planning firm, will also present at the workshop.
• Reviving Niagara Falls’ Urbanism (Sat., June 7, 12:30 – 6 pm). Hiroaki Hata, associate professor of architecture urban and regional planning, and several graduate architecture and urban planning students will guide a design charette on mixed-use and infill development strategies for Niagara Falls’ Main Street corridor. The charette will specifically focus on a master plan for city’s new Intermodal Transportation Hub in the city's North End that was developed last semester out of an urban design studio led by Hata. Niagara Falls Senior Planner Thomas DeSantis, a School of Architecture and Planning graduate, Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, and several distinguished new urbanists will lead the conversation. 
• International Approaches to Urban Sustainability (Thursday, June 5, 2 – 3:15 pm) Dean Shibley will moderate a conversation with leaders of several model initiatives in zero-carbon urban design and development, including EcoDistricts, a national network of people, tools and services to help development practitioners create resource-efficient and just neighborhoods, and Dublin’s Elm Park, an international model of compact, green development. 

Nathan Neuman, a student in the school’s Master of Urban Planning program, is co-chair of the local committee of CNU NextGen, the Next Generation of New Urbanists. In this role he has led efforts to engage students and young urbanists, a key force in today’s revitalization of cities, in the conference. CNU has offered financial support for students, as well as discounted lodging on UB’s South Campus, to build student attendance from around the world.

Each evening of the Congress, NextGen will also host social, networking and participatory events to maximize the experience of attendees, engage the public, highlight Buffalo and provoke conversation. These include “Buffalo Park-In,” which will invite participants to create a pop-up park out of several on-street parking spaces in downtown Buffalo, and “Tour de Neglect,” which will guide cyclists across Buffalo’s East Side. NextGen is also sponsoring daily tours of downtown Buffalo, led by Neuman, as well as a closing party at Larkin Square. All NextGen events are free and open to the public. View the full schedule of NextGen events.  

The conference will also explore sites throughout the region as exemplary forms of new urbanism, from the city’s Olmsted parks and parkway system to the village centers of Lewiston and Hamburg. Many of these - the Larkin District, the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Silo City and Buffalo's burgeoning waterfront - are products of the University at Buffalo's downtown campus development and the engagement of its architecture and planning school for planning and design expertise. The city’s new form-based zoning code, which was developed in partnership with the School of Architecture and Planning’s Urban Design Project, will also be discussed and celebrated as a model initiative. Buffalo’s first zoning rewrite since 1953, the Buffalo Green Code is expected to bring smart growth reform to the city’s development process.