Listen to the episode:
Urban design and planning can have a large effect on a city, and this week the nonprofit Congress for New Urbanism will discuss its role in Louisville as part of the nonprofit’s 27th annual conference.
More than 1,500 urban designers, architects and planners from across the nation will gather for the conference at Louisville’s Seelbach hotel, where there will be dozens of speeches and workshops about urban planning and design. According to the Congress for New Urbanism’s website, great and walkable urban places are “powerful economic and social engines” which can improve community health.
Conference officials will also reveal their final plans for redesigns of four places in Louisville. The group undertook these intensive design reviews as part of its annual Legacy Project, which is a CNU program offered to cities who host the conference. It takes proposals on what a city would need from the local government, nonprofits and others, and offers advice on those proposals for free.
This year’s project studied design changes along Woodlawn Avenue in the Beechmont neighborhood, the 18th Street corridor in the Russell neighborhood, the West Main and Market Street corridors in the Portland neighborhood, and areas along Beargrass Creek. Local participants praised the Beechmont proposal for how well it included their voices, and for how it plans to support area residents.
On WFPL’s In Conversation this week, we’ll talk about urbanism and projects driven by the Congress for New Urbanism.
Our guests include:
- Doug Farr, Architect and Founder of Farr Associates
- Hazel Borys, Principal and Managing Director of PlaceMakers
Listen to In Conversation live on 89.3 WFPL Friday at 11 a.m. or follow along with our live tweets at @WFPLnews. Call with your questions or comments at 502-814-TALK or tweet us with the hashtag #WFPLconversation. We’re also on Facebook.
