CNU NE Annual Summit and Awards: The New Localism

On Friday, October 2 The New Localism Summit & Awards will provide hands-on guidance for addressing a critical challenge and transformative opportunity facing communities across New England and the nation. Inspired by Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak's 2007 book , our focus for the day will be the profound shift in power and problem solving capacity that is moving away from the national government and toward local communities and metropolitan networks of public, private, and civic actors.

Across the board, we are seeing that local governments must fill a widening fiscal gap, and with funding responsibility comes planning power and planning accountability. How can local communities—large and small, well-resourced and under-resourced, red and blue—respond? This year's Summit is designed to help answer that question through a day-long program consisting of a keynote, breakout discussions, panel discussion, and awards, concluding with a cocktail reception.

Submissions are due by Thursday September 17.

Saturday October 3 is Urban De-Code Boston! Join the Emerging New Urbanists (ENU) and spend the day exploring the forces shaping Boston’s urban environment. We’ll kick off with a morning transect walk commencing at Faneuil Hall and ending in the Seaport, unpacking how changes in density, land use, transportation, public space, and neighborhood character reveal the city’s evolution. From there, we’ll dive deeper through a workshop on a transportation corridor and a neighborhood currently undergoing redesign. We’ll end the day with an informal happy hour and dinner.

Info: Led by architects from the multi award winning Union Studio Architecture and Community Design, this session will highlight design strategies that support more resilient and adaptable communities – including such topics as community-centered design, building and zoning code reform, adaptive reuse, and more.

Info: Led by James Carras, a faculty member at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, member of Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative, who is also currently serving as Acting Director for the Lawrence Redevelopment Authority. This session will introduce new and innovative strategies for “non-traditional” (missing middle, affordable mixed-use, etc) projects that are currently not “penciling out”.

Info: Led by David Kooris, former Planning Director for Stamford, Connecticut and now Executive Director of the new Connecticut Municipal Development Authority. In this session we’ll learn about an emerging national model for how states can partner with local governments in planning and implementing change.

Info: Built around the theme of "the New Localism," the Summit will explore the latest challenges and opportunities in new urbanism through the prism of scales of action. The morning keynote will dive into how the federal government can better support local communities from above, and subsequent breakouts will focus on how communities are taking local action to advance new urbanist goals. Our plenary panel will bridge the two and explore how state and regional authorities can partner with municipalities to advance the new urbanism locally while simultaneously realizing regional goals.

Info: This year we are seeking projects and initiatives that demonstrate
excellence and courage in enabling social diversity, economic equity, and
cultural inclusivity. Submitted projects must also demonstrate local and regional public/private partnerships and/or use creative financing approaches that enable both the project to happen while contributing to the livability, economic opportunity, equity, and resilience of our region.

Info: The exact meetup location will be shared after registration.

Event venue & nearby stays

10 World Trade Center Ave, 10 World Trade Center Avenue, Boston, United States

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.

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