CNU Transportation Summit: Live blogging on day two

According to the CNU Transportation Summit, networks — like Portland’s downtown street grid — may be a better solution to the transportation needs of the 21st Century than capacity improvements to arterials and other hub-and-spoke systems. Image: 1950 Downtown Portland map, collection of Jason McHuff.

After scaring attendees with the eccentricities of Voodoo Doughnuts, day two of the Congress for New Urbanism’s Transportation Summit 2009 is off and running. This morning the focus has been on transportation networks and their associated land uses. After some discussion of the environmental benefits of networked transportation systems, economist Joe Cortright from CEOs for Cities gave a fast and very productive presentation on the effects of good walkability on home value. The bottom line: the more walkable a community is, the higher value the property is. That said, Cortright suggests that neighborhoods with dangerous conditions such as blight or crime will have values that remain low, an issue that is particularly applicable to midwestern cities under compaction.

Later today, Metropolitan Planning Organization reform, the origins of anti-network bias, and numerous other topics will be discussed. Of note will be a presentation by Stan Curtis from IBM’s Smart Cities Research program who will discuss how technologically originated network analysis can help to understand how future cities could adapt and grow.