I’m happy to welcome CNT’s newest staff person, Elizabeth Irvin, who starts work with us today as our Transportation Director. Elizabeth joins us from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), where she worked on evaluating the impacts of road and transit projects, identifying opportunities and risks of emerging transportation technologies, and advancing strategies to improve equity and sustainability in the region’s transportation system. She previously worked for Metro Boston’s... Read the rest of this entry »

On Tuesday, December 4, CNT opened our offices to partners and friends both old and new. We rearranged our space to display our current work – see diagram below – and spent three nonstop hours describing it.  Around 150 people came through (we weren’t keeping close count), talked to our staff and board about our priorities and projects, and connected with other friends. Most commonly overhead conversation snippets at the open house: I really like that AllTransit tool. (Thanks,... Read the rest of this entry »

This just in—a new tool addressing the promise and challenges in using Opportunity Zones (OZs) to drive development in underserved urban areas. The National Opportunity Zones Ranking Report was produced by LOCUS in conjunction with Smart Growth America and SPARCC – a national network rooted in Atlanta, the SF-Oakland Bay Area, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and Memphis to accelerate equitable development without displacement, climate resilience and public health achievement.... Read the rest of this entry »

Last night we saw over 100 friends, partners, and other supporters of urban sustainability at the CNT Reception. We’re excited to have been hosted by the Chicago Connectory, a great space created by Bosch and 1871 to help startups and thought leaders in the growing Internet of Things (IoT) field. I’d like to particularly thank Dennis Boecker, Bosch USA’s Global Lead for IT Innovation and co-founder of the Connectory, for hosting us and speaking to the guests; to SB Friedman as a lead sponsor... Read the rest of this entry »

As a new CEO, I passed an important milestone last week: my first board meeting. I’ve been happy to find that CNT has an active and engaged board, and even happier to find that we continually add interesting new people. Last week, CNT welcomed a new board member: Stefan Gspurning, Head of Urban Mobility for Bosch. My introduction to Stefan started with a visit to the Chicago Connectory, a collaboration between Bosch and 1871 that provides an innovation space for startups and growing... Read the rest of this entry »

By Julia Gerasimenko, Active Transportation Alliance People who scoff at the significant cost of the Red Line Extension ($2+ billion) shouldn’t overlook the significant social and economic benefits it would deliver to several of the most isolated and disinvested communities in the city. New analysis using the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s AllTransitTM tool puts numbers behind these benefits. Funded by TransitCenter, the tool allows users to enter an address and discover the... Read the rest of this entry »

By Rosie Powers, CNT Young Innovators Attendees of this year’s CNT Young Innovators’ Summer Fundraiser were greeted by a day full of sunshine, locally-sourced fare, and an engaging discussion about sustainable food systems. This year’s event was held at Homestead on the Roof in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood. The restaurant’s rooftop garden was a perfect setting for a discussion about sustainable food systems in the Chicago region. CNT’s new CEO Bob Dean introduced the event,... Read the rest of this entry »

The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) and King County Metro have released an update to rightsizeparking.org. This update uses new data collected over the past year at 75 multifamily properties around King County, making the parking use model more robust, supported by a count of actual parking use in the middle of the night. Now, along with all the features of the previous version, a user can vary the proposed multifamily housing development’s parking supply and see how that affects the... Read the rest of this entry »

CNT was delighted to participate again in the Chicago Community Trust’s On the Table on May 8th, 2018. Over lunch at CNT’s offices, we hosted a range of guests in a conversation about environmental justice. Attendees included chairs and co-chairs from the Robbins and Chatham RainReady community steering committees, students from a local high school, and members of the Elevated Chicago coalition. The topic was “Beyond Baby Boomers: Passing the Torch on Local Environmental Justice,” addressing... Read the rest of this entry »

I recently had the honor to sit down with Ben Brown from PlaceMakers to talk about Community Affordability in the PlaceMaker’s blog “PlaceShakers and Newsmakers”  CNT has had a long relationship with PlaceMakers, a planning and design firm that works in the United States and Canada.  Ben and I spoke about affordability and place, in advance of the Congress for New Urbanism 2018 Conference to be held May 15-19, 2018. Follows is the beginning of Part II of our conversation about... Read the rest of this entry »