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CNU
members ratified the Charter of the New Urbanism at CNU's fourth annual
Congress in 1996. Applying valuable lessons from the past to the modern world,
it outlines principles for building better communities, from the scale of the
region down to the block.
View also the Canons of
Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism, a companion document that builds on the
Charter's vision of sustainability.
The
Congress for the New Urbanism
views disinvestment in central cities, the spread of placeless sprawl,
increasing separation by race and income, environmental deterioration, loss of
agricultural lands and wilderness, and the erosion of society's built heritage
as one interrelated community-building challenge.
We stand
for the restoration of existing urban centers and towns within coherent
metropolitan regions, the reconfiguration of sprawling suburbs into communities
of real neighborhoods and diverse districts, the conservation of natural
environments, and the preservation of our built legacy.
We
recognize that physical solutions by themselves will not solve social and
economic problems, but neither can economic vitality, community stability, and
environmental health be sustained without a coherent and supportive physical
framework.
We advocate
the restructuring of public policy and development practices to support the
following principles: neighborhoods should be diverse in use and population; communities
should be designed for the pedestrian and transit as well as the car; cities
and towns should be shaped by physically defined and universally accessible
public spaces and community institutions; urban places should be framed by
architecture and landscape design that celebrate local history, climate,
ecology, and building practice.
We
represent a broad-based citizenry, composed of public and private sector
leaders, community activists, and multidisciplinary professionals. We are
committed to reestablishing the relationship between the art of building and
the making of community, through citizen-based participatory planning and
design.
We dedicate
ourselves to reclaiming our homes, blocks, streets, parks, neighborhoods,
districts, towns, cities, regions, and environment.
We
assert the following principles to guide public policy, development practice,
urban planning, and design:
The
region: Metropolis, city, and town
1.
Metropolitan
regions are finite places with geographic boundaries derived from topography,
watersheds, coastlines, farmlands, regional parks, and river basins. The
metropolis is made of multiple centers that are cities, towns, and villages,
each with its own identifiable center and edges.
2.
The
metropolitan region is a fundamental economic unit of the contemporary world.
Governmental cooperation, public policy, physical planning, and economic
strategies must reflect this new reality.
3.
The
metropolis has a necessary and fragile relationship to its agrarian hinterland
and natural landscapes. The relationship is environmental, economic, and
cultural. Farmland and nature are as important to the metropolis as the garden
is to the house.
4.
Development
patterns should not blur or eradicate the edges of the metropolis. Infill
development within existing urban areas conserves environmental resources,
economic investment, and social fabric, while reclaiming marginal and abandoned
areas. Metropolitan regions should develop strategies to encourage such infill
development over peripheral expansion.
5.
Where
appropriate, new development contiguous to urban boundaries should be organized
as neighborhoods and districts, and be integrated with the existing urban
pattern. Noncontiguous development should be organized as towns and villages
with their own urban edges, and planned for a jobs/housing balance, not as
bedroom suburbs.
6.
The
development and redevelopment of towns and cities should respect historical
patterns, precedents, and boundaries.
7.
Cities and
towns should bring into proximity a broad spectrum of public and private uses
to support a regional economy that benefits people of all incomes. Affordable
housing should be distributed throughout the region to match job opportunities
and to avoid concentrations of poverty.
8.
The physical
organization of the region should be supported by a framework of transportation
alternatives. Transit, pedestrian, and bicycle systems should maximize access
and mobility throughout the region while reducing dependence upon the
automobile.
9.
Revenues and
resources can be shared more cooperatively among the municipalities and centers
within regions to avoid destructive competition for tax base and to promote
rational coordination of transportation, recreation, public services, housing,
and community institutions.
The
neighborhood, the district, and the corridor
1.
The
neighborhood, the district, and the corridor are the essential elements of
development and redevelopment in the metropolis. They form identifiable areas
that encourage citizens to take responsibility for their maintenance and
evolution.
2.
Neighborhoods
should be compact, pedestrian-friendly, and mixed-use. Districts generally
emphasize a special single use, and should follow the principles of
neighborhood design when possible. Corridors are regional connectors of neighborhoods
and districts; they range from boulevards and rail lines to rivers and
parkways.
3.
Many
activities of daily living should occur within walking distance, allowing
independence to those who do not drive, especially the elderly and the young.
Interconnected networks of streets should be designed to encourage walking,
reduce the number and length of automobile trips, and conserve energy.
4.
Within
neighborhoods, a broad range of housing types and price levels can bring people
of diverse ages, races, and incomes into daily interaction, strengthening the
personal and civic bonds essential to an authentic community.
5.
Transit
corridors, when properly planned and coordinated, can help organize
metropolitan structure and revitalize urban centers. In contrast, highway
corridors should not displace investment from existing centers.
6.
Appropriate
building densities and land uses should be within walking distance of transit
stops, permitting public transit to become a viable alternative to the
automobile.
7.
Concentrations
of civic, institutional, and commercial activity should be embedded in
neighborhoods and districts, not isolated in remote, single-use complexes.
Schools should be sized and located to enable children to walk or bicycle to
them.
8.
The economic
health and harmonious evolution of neighborhoods, districts, and corridors can
be improved through graphic urban design codes that serve as predictable guides
for change.
9.
A range of
parks, from tot-lots and village greens to ballfields and community gardens, should
be distributed within neighborhoods. Conservation areas and open lands should
be used to define and connect different neighborhoods and districts.
The
block, the street, and the building
1.
A primary
task of all urban architecture and landscape design is the physical definition
of streets and public spaces as places of shared use.
2.
Individual
architectural projects should be seamlessly linked to their surroundings. This
issue transcends style.
3.
The
revitalization of urban places depends on safety and security. The design of
streets and buildings should reinforce safe environments, but not at the
expense of accessibility and openness.
4.
In the
contemporary metropolis, development must adequately accommodate automobiles.
It should do so in ways that respect the pedestrian and the form of public
space.
5.
Streets and
squares should be safe, comfortable, and interesting to the pedestrian.
Properly configured, they encourage walking and enable neighbors to know each
other and protect their communities.
6.
Architecture
and landscape design should grow from local climate, topography, history, and
building practice.
7.
Civic
buildings and public gathering places require important sites to reinforce
community identity and the culture of democracy. They deserve distinctive form,
because their role is different from that of other buildings and places that
constitute the fabric of the city.
8.
All buildings
should provide their inhabitants with a clear sense of location, weather and
time. Natural methods of heating and cooling can be more resource-efficient
than mechanical systems.
9.
Preservation
and renewal of historic buildings, districts, and landscapes affirm the
continuity and evolution of urban society.
Copyright
1996, Congress for the New Urbanism. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce
the Charter in full or in excerpt, provided that this copyright notice remains
intact.
© 1997-2007
Congress for the New Urbanism. Opinions posted in CNU Salons and in comments
are those of their respective authors, not of CNU.