Congress For the New Urbanism 2016 – Detroit

by Dan Romanko MCIP, RPP, CNU-A

We are back from Detroit, and our annual pilgrimage to the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU 24). As many know, Detroit, MI went bankrupt in July 2013. So, as urbanists, we were both curious and intrigued to see how the images of vacant and boarded-up buildings (those that remained) could be transformed.

During the drive, we contemplated what the urban landscape might look like, and what if anything has been done to repair it since 2013? Suffice to say, we were pleasantly surprised with the Cities resilience and the efforts to rebuild – all of which subscribe to the principles of New Urbanism.

So what were the highlights? We started with a tour to Grand Rapids (where ironically, they are decidedly missing from the Grand River). Here we saw a greenfield project with customized neighbourhood amenities and the use of interesting building materials.

We saw an intact downtown main street returning to prosperity, neighbourhoods reclaiming parks, retail commercial finding customers clamoring for urbanism and neighbourhoods transformed from a history of crime to beautiful mixed use places with affordable housing. Other tours included Ann Arbor, Greater Downtown Detroit and Birmingham, MI – all of which had something we could learn from.

The seminars didn’t disappoint either…always entertaining Andres Duany introduced newcomers to the principles of New Urbanism, and Jeff Speck reminded us of the importance of walkability. I was particularly impressed with Joe Minicozzi‘s ‘Cash Flow of Urbanism’ which convincingly demonstrated how urbanism is profitable for cities and why Walmart isn’t the tax goldmine municipalities believe it will be; and Janette Sadik-Khan, New York City’s former transportation commissioner, who gave a powerful presentation on the lessons learned when we give our streets back to pedestrians.

As always, we came away with renewed vigor to design and build better neighbourhoods. If you haven’t yet been, I encourage you to attend the next Congress to learn how to build places people love. Hope to see you next year at CNU 25 Seattle, WA!

Author

Dan Romanko MCIP, RPP, CNU-A

Dan Romanko is a consulting Professional Planner practicing urban design, and neighbourhood development in Ontario with over 25 years’ experience. Growing up in Mississauga in the ’80s, his childhood years were spent in a categorically suburban environment. This experience sparked an interest in land-use patterns and ultimately the Urban Planning profession. Dan began his academic career at Sheridan College, graduating as a Civil Engineering Technician in 1992; he then went on to complete the Honours Urban and Regional Planning program at the University of Waterloo, graduating in 1997.  Years later, his interest in community scale sustainability found him continuing his education and he received a Master of Engineering Design in Sustainable Infrastructure from McMaster University in 2012. Dan has worked as a planner in a consulting role since 1998. From 2000-2009, Dan worked with Barr Associates in St. Catharines as urban designer. After a five-year stint at another multi-disciplinary firm downtown St. Catharines, Dan returned to Barr Associates in 2015 as partner and the company changed its name to Better Neighbourhoods Inc. In addition to his managing partner role, Dan is a full member in the Canadian Institute of Planners and the Ontario Professional Planners Institute and been qualified as an expert witness at the Ontario Land Tribunal.  He has been an accredited member of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU-A) since 2009 and has attended annual Congresses since 2006.  Dan lives downtown St. Catharines with his family and is fortunate to have a seven minute walk to work.
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