Get out the Vote! CNU 20 is well underway, and you have until Friday at Noon to cast your VOTE for CNU Board Member. I need your support as we come into these final hours of voting. Do not miss this first ever opportunity to have your voice heard by the Congress for the New Urbanism Board.
As a Board Member, I will focus on strengthening and developing the bottom up network and increase transparency at the national level. I want to support our membership and their success in three simple ways:
Open Innovation
Regional Chapters
Individual Advancement
- Plum Tree by Gordon MacKenzie
First, at the national level, I will support more opportunities for all our members to present ideas at the Congress through Open Innovation sessions like Open Source and Pecha Kucha. Several of the open source sessions like Light Imprint, Sprawl Retrofit, and Tactical Urbanism, have led to nationally recognized initiatives. These incredible ideas started on the carpet of the convention center, and now are in textbooks and the source of planning discussions across the country. In Madison, I hosted the first ever Pecha Kucha night, where over 200 people traveled over a mile to the Urban Project Lodge to participate. This provided an opportunity for nearly a dozen professionals showcase some of the most exciting New Urbanism thinking in just 6 minutes.
Secondly, at the regional level, I will support the growth and establishment of Regional Chapters through the continued development of the Chapter Handbook. Existing Chapters are inspiring new Chapters to form across the Country. Our Chapters are the best way to continue the excitement of the Annual Congress to quarterly or monthly gatherings in the communities of our members. This is the best opportunity to share local ideas, and to bring the Congress home. CNU Staff and Chapter Reps are sharing successes which is providing the opportunity to grow our membership. The new Chapter Rep on the Board along with each Chapter will have my support to empower our membership at the Chapter Level.
Thirdly, I want to support the successes of our individual members. This includes the continued advancement of our social network tools for members to share ideas. I believe that our membership should drive our Congress. I have been a supporter and instigator for Open Source Technology ever since Jennifer Hurley introduced it to Next Gen in Chicago. this session highlighted that our membership is a collaboration of individuals. Like any great movement, it takes a collaboration to succeed. As a Board Member, I will encourage and support our individual members as they advance New Urbanism through collaboration. I will encourage our membership to post to CNU.org. Thousands are following the blog posts, Facebook Posts, and Tweets, of our organization. In addition, our members and partner organizations republish and link to these posts, which expose our work to millions. This is an invaluable communication tool, and to share and market our observations, ideas, and work.
All three of these approaches are intended to provide an organic bottom up venue to enrich the ideas in the Charter of the New Urbanism. I hope that you feel that I would be a great member of the Board and that you will take the time to cast a vote for Edward.
I would like to share the pages of my sketchbooks with all of you. I never really thought much of my sketchbooks. My books are simply just a collection of my travels and thoughts and provide me the opportunity share my internal thoughts in an illustrated journal. These books are part of a long tradition repeated by generations of architects.
. So, I ended up staying the night and the next morning I drove Edward to the convention center on my way out of town.
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