The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) is holding its 22 annual conference in Buffalo this week. As part of the conference a sub group of younger CNUers calling themselves NextGen (next Generation) is sponsoring a slew of events, which are open to all and free of charge. These events are designed to break the mold of the stuffy lecture / seminar format that is the norm at professional conventions of this type. The NextGen events are interactive, hands on, and edgy. You can see the entire NextGen schedule for the week here.
One NextGen event of particular interest will be held this Saturday June 7 from 11:00am to 3:pm at the neighborhood recently dubbed 5 points; a descriptive moniker taken from the 5 angular corners formed by the intersecting streets of West Utica, Rhode Island And Brayton on Buffalo’s West Side. The event, simply named Five Points+, will involve a citizen intervention called tactical urbanism. This description is from the NextGen schedule:
“Five Points +” neighborhood stakeholders, business owners, and concerned citizens will leverage tactical urbanism to traffic calm a dangerous, problematic intersection. Expect a street party, art, chalk, and greenery, to boot! Peatónito, Mexico City’s masked pedestrian revolutionary, will be a participant!
The sea of asphalt at this intersection resulted from decades of planners remaking the city batter for cars and worse for people. This kind of cars first design says that fast-moving machines are more important than this place is not. Tactical urbanism is a way of emphatically stating that this place does matter, plus its fun to do too. Everyone is welcome including kids and its free! This is a great way to take back your city and show the bureaucrats how the city should be, that this place is important and should be treated as such. I understand that the police will be there to ensure everyone’s safety as they work in the street. This event promises to be a really fun block party.
See the full NextGen CNU22 Schedule here