Designers specialize in New Urbanism

District energy is one example of New Urbanism principles.

Three members of Oregon’s urban planning and design community in December announced that they are part of the first group to earn Congress for New Urbanism-Accreditation (CNU-A).

Among the group are Mary Vogel of Portland’s PlanGreen, who works on ecosystem services; Michael Mehaffy of Structura Naturalis Inc., who is best known for his work as project manager for Orenco Station in Hillsboro, Ore.; and Laurence Qamar of Portland-based Laurence Qamar, Architecture and Town Planning Co., who worked on Fairview Village and Gresham Station in the Portland area. They are three of Oregon’s first four CNU-A professionals.

CNU-A is similar to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Accredited Professional status. It grew out of the LEED-Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) rating system, which CNU helped write along with U.S. Green Building Council and Natural Resources Defense Council. Under LEED-ND certification, working with a CNU-A adds one point to a LEED-ND project’s score. It also clarifies what an individual brings to a project, says Vogel.

“New Urbanism is starting to come into its own and a lot of home builders have been claiming to be New Urbanists for projects that are not of the quality and principles that New Urbanism follows,” she says.

The future will hold a lot of opportunity for CNU-A professionals as dense urban development replaces sprawl-based development as the new norm, according to Vogel. “It’s no longer selling to just try and sell sprawl,” she says. “We are moving away from that because of the bankruptcies of so many of those companies that used to develop the sprawl. Developers who do transit-oriented development and mixed use are doing so much better financially.”

There are 142 people with CNU-A status in the United States and Canada, including two in Washington and 14 in California.