THE CNU MIDWEST CHARTER

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 celebrates local history, climate, ecology, and building practice.

We dedicate ourselves to reclaiming our homes, blocks, streets, parks, neighborhoods, districts, towns, cities, regions, and the environment.

We represent a broad-based citizenry, composed of public and private sector leaders, community activists, and multidisciplinary professionals. We are committed to re-establishing the relationship between the art of building and the making of community, through citizen-based participatory planning and design.

Regions are finite places with boundaries. The metropolis is made up of multiple cities, each with its own center and edge.

1.

The region is a fundamental economic unit of the contemporary world. Governmental cooperation, public policy, community planning, and economic strategy must reflect this.

2.

The metropolis has a necessary and fragile relationship to its agrarian hinterland and natural landscapes. The relationship is environmental, economic, and cultural.

3.

Development patterns should not blur the edges of the metropolis. Infill within existing urban areas conserves resources, economic investment, and social fabric while reclaiming marginal and abandoned areas.

4.

Where appropriate, new development contiguous to the city should be organized as neighborhoods and districts, and be integrated with the existing urban pattern.

5.

The development and redevelopment of towns and cities should respect historical patterns, precedents, and boundaries.

6.

Cities should bring into 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.

7.

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

8.

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.

9.

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.

10.

Neighborhoods should be compact, pedestrian-friendly, and mixed-use. Districts generally emphasize a special single-use. Corridors are regional connectors of neighborhoods and districts; they range from boulevards and rail lines to rivers and parkways.

11.

Activities of daily living should occur within walking distance, allowing independence to those who do not drive. Interconnected networks of streets should be designed to encourage walking, reduce the number and length of automobile trips, and conserve energy.

12.

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.

13.

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.

14.

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.

15.

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.

16.

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.

17.

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.

18.

A primary task of all urban architecture and landscape design is the physical definition of streets and public spaces as places of shared use.

19.

Individual architectural projects should be seamlessly linked to their surroundings. This issue transcends style.

20.

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.

21.

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.

22.

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.

23.

Architecture and landscape design should grow from local climate, topography, history, and building practice.

24.

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.

25.

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.

26.

Preservation and renewal of historic buildings, districts, and landscapes affirm the continuity and evolution of urban society.

27.