Over 350 people attended a daylong conference in Milwaukee on October 7, 1996 titled "Putting Wisconsin Communities Back on Their Feet: Creating Walkable, Transit-Friendly Neighborhoods." The conference was put on by Citizens for a Better Environment (CBE) through a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. "The incredible turnout for the conference demonstrates people's desire to make their communities more 'livable' through more traditional, mixed-use neighborhood development that increases people's transportation options," said William Schaefer, Director of CBE's Land Use and Transportation Program. "Even more impressive than the number of attendees was their diversity, including quite a few local officials," he said.

Peter Calthorpe, a San Francisco landscape architect who has been a pioneer in the design of compact, mixed-use "neo-traditional" communities, gave an opening keynote address. He noted that conventional suburban development--spread out, auto-oriented, and isolated from needed services--makes less sense now, given that only 26% of the population consists of traditional nuclear families (two parents and one or more kids). He also emphasized the cost savings ($3,000-$5,000) to households from owning one less car. This can make the difference for many between renting and owning a house.

Workshops covered a broad range of issues, including pedestrian/ transit-friendly street design, planning and zoning for compact, mixed-used development, and downtown revitalization.

Some of the themes that emerged from the conference included the following:

While "visual preference surveys" and other tools have shown many people prefer traditional mixed-use development, it is the most difficult type of development to do;

At least in the short run, traditional development will probably be easiest and may work best in and near cities where the traditional urban neighborhood fabric already exists;

Performance standards and generous use of graphics are good tools to supplement or even eventually replace current zoning codes, which serve as a major obstacle to doing traditional development; and

There are many simple design changes that can be made to increase the accessibility of places to pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders if these modes are considered in the planning and development review process.

Anyone who was unable to attend the conference, but is interested in getting a copy of the conference materials and outlines can order them by calling the CBE Milwaukee office at (414) 271-7280. A $10 fee will be charged to cover printing, shipping, and handling costs. Credit card users can e-mail an order at <cbewi@igc.apc.org>; please include Visa or Mastercard information.