Before I talk about what I liked about specific parts of the Congress, I want to once again speak to where I see the movement going and what it needs to do to get better. This is partly in response to the open letter to new urbanism published on Sunday morning by Colin Dabkowski in The Buffalo News. This is also in response to any and everybody I’ve seen on Twitter, heard directly from on Facebook, sat with in the corners of bars and even Skyped with over the years, plus good friends and family from home, who just don’t understand what’s going on here and why it seems so elitist, sometimes racist, sometimes sexist and anything else that could be lobbied against the movement. Also, I say we because I am a card carrying-CNUer and I do feel like I’m a part of the greater movement.

We are more than the three guys that speak all the time

I was with Colin until he said that he only went to a few sessions and then wrote his story on new urbanism based on that. There was so much other stuff that happened this week. He was at Silo City, but did he have a chance to chat with anyone out there while enjoying the food trucks? I know the debates were a little deep at the NextGen night, but the Pecha Kucha was as good as any other city and had a variety of topics. Yes, the urban triage idea is in a book and it’s being touted as the next best thing. However, is that our fault? Our fault in that we as a media tend to gravitate towards the same old folks and the same old books and the same old hooks when it comes to community development and placemaking. Thankfully, there are our blogs and our papers and our libraries, all with multiple voices. Maybe we don’t all get published the way we should, but we can self publish and self promote. As this article states, a book is not a book deal. No matter what, it’s still a book.

We are taking tangible steps to deal with the diversity problem

We have board members who are women and non-white. I can’t confirm any LGBT members, but I’m sure someone is. We have people who represent all the elements of creating a built environment on the board. I saw at least 5-7 women and 20-30 men of color on the convention floor. There have been years when I’ve been one of maybe two women. Yes, the numbers are still bad, but they can get better and are getting better. As a well-known author, speaker and rabble-rouser in the movement, I will do my part to make sure we examine issues of those who are non-white, non-male, non-straight and even non-urban. Urbanism is the term, but it’s really placemaking and place maintenance that we do here. Next year, I hope we can do even more events with community groups and that we can make more free and reduced price tickets a reality for our students and long-time community workers.

You have to be willing to explore and challenge what you hear.

Despite what you might see when you view a speaker on stage, most of those folks are gentle giants at our many social gatherings. If you recognize someone at the hotel breakfast bar, please reach out and sit next to them. They may be busy, or on the move, but they really don’t bite outside of being on stage. You may however find yourself in a heated debate, but I guarantee you that you both will have learned something at the end of it all. Likewise, if you don’t like a session, feel free to leave. Architecture critique has always prided itself on being honest. In these past few years, the CNU has opened up an Open Source Congress, free of charge and available for anyone who wants to create a topic on the spot to do so. All the NextGen events, also created to allow more voices and more people in the fold, are free and this year had a very local flavor as folks on the ground pitched in to make sure we had more events and more connection to the local community.

We do need to do more outreach

I am very fond of the affinity group model that other professional and trade organizations use. Yes, I know CNU is more than just a trade organization, but we do have a formal structure and many do come to us to learn and to be guided. In addition, often-marginalized groups have a hard time engaging a situation, even when the best of intentions are made. Something that may not hurt you, may be very hurtful to someone else. This doesn’t mean we have to be pandering, but do be mindful that just because your idea makes sense in your group of bros, that it makes sense in the wider world of community development practice.

We are a roundtable, a group of friends, a salon. Yes, that means more talk and less action, but we can change that.

I want to encourage everyone to continue to debate, to raise your voices and if you think you belong at the table, pull up a chair and sit down and start speaking. If no one listens, it’s not always because your voice is invalid, it just may take a while to soak in. Somebody in that conference hall wants to hear you. Even better, the next Congress will be at multiple locations. We hope to bring that same spirit into the NextGen events and extend out to get more people at the Congress who may not normally be able to pay for a major convention or spend several days at lectures and sessions. I’m going to keep writing these posts and presenting these podcasts and telling as many stories as possible. I hope to hear about more freeway removals that re-engage the communities that were destroyed. I want to see the charter spread, and be reminded that the charter calls for the reversal of urban renewal, disnivestment, and segregation. I also want the CNU-A numbers to grow and for people to continue the charge to take back their communities, their homes, their streets and the like for a people scale.

I love you all, warts and all

For those of you with whom I’ve had the privilege to attend many congresses, as well as some of the other industry conferences, and have coffee and dinner with when you happen to come to Greensboro, none of this will be new to you. We all realize that sometimes our ideas can be over the top, that sometimes our methods don’t work. Other times, we feel like what we believe is so common sense, the numbers speak to it all, that we can’t believe no one believes us. Yes, we are the mainstream now, but we have a long way to go to make sure everyone feels welcome. Yet, we’ve made a good start and I think it’s somewhat unfair that we keep having to read the articles and the criticisms. But let’s just keep working hard. The good work will and is speaking for itself.

And tomorrow, what we did right in Buffalo.

My second full day here in Buffalo was amazing. I really enjoyed the insights expressed in the morning plenary, especially by Harriet Tregoning, former DC Planning Director and working with HUD with their Sustainable Communities grants. Both presentations made it clear that millennials (i.e. the next generation) are here to stay and need to be enabled. Hold those thoughts.

At lunchtime, I split my time with the initiatives of the CNU Next Gen, from sounding off a bit on a North Carolina CNU on the Strong Towns Podcast taping and catching the tail end of the presentation of The Next American Urbanism, the first of the pieces coming from the Place Summit held in Louisville last fall and to which I was unable to attend, but contributed a chapter to our upcoming book.

After an afternoon conversation with Original Green‘s Steve Mouzon on writing and finding the right perspective on our work as placemakers, I took some time to check in on the efforts of those hoping to remove freeways built in error in our neighborhoods. I missed the Charter Awards due to a necessary nap. Yet, I was awake and ready for our NextGen event out at Silo City.

As we drove into the complex, I was amazed by how much major industrial activity was still active and working on the river fronts. Even though some say domestic manufacturing is dead, I beg to differ, especially with the sites of several active silos. That cereal smell? General Mills and their active silos. The one we spent time with has been transformed into a tactical urbanism space, complete with the requisite food trucks. We heard from a couple of other speakers, then the man of the hour Andres Duany.

I expected an esoteric design-focused talk, but instead, I got a pep talk. The talk itself, while rambly at parts, had at its core the need for both the older and younger generations to learn how to work together. With the economic crisis and its exposure to the mainstream of the evidence of devastating poverty, along with the recent natural disasters and the real estate bubble pop, the talk underscored the need to go back to a solid work ethic. I believe Andres was inspired by the setting of Buffalo, as much mention was made to the blue-collar ethos and to the uniqueness and creativity of the Silo City venue. At the end, I was hit by the idea of my generation having great organization, but needing to be more disciplined. I also appreciated the championing of my generation and our skills, but also the emphasis on the need for boomers and other older folks to mentor and gradually give over the keys such that no two parties were left out in the dust.

For more images, and commentary, check out the Storify link here.

See you around the conference center and tonight at the Pan American Grill at the Hotel Lafayette, for our NextGen Pecha Kucha and Debate, along with the New Urbanism Film Festival.