“New Urbanism is the most important collective architectural movement in the United States in the past fifty years.” – The New York Times
CNU New
York is the statewide
chapter of the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU). Since 1991, the CNU has worked
for the development of walkable and sustainable cities, towns and neighborhoods
and against the spread of auto-based sprawl. Our charter says,
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.
CNU stands 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.
The CNU and CNU New York have worked with the U.S. Green
Buildings Council and the Natural Resources Defense Council to create LEED for
Neighborhood Development, the first rating system to certify that a
development's location and design achieve a high level of environmental
responsibility.