Since its inception, CNT has pioneered sustainable, equitable, and growth-oriented solutions that reimagine how cities think about transportation and land use. One area of work is equitable transit-oriented development (eTOD), which helps underserved communities tackle affordability, meet transportation needs, and decrease climate change impacts. In light of increased community interest in walkable, connected environments, CNT recently hosted a series of workshops addressing pertinent eTOD... Continue reading »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Chicago, IL, May 21, 2019) The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) announces that its founder and long-time visionary leader, Scott Bernstein, is stepping down from the organization effective September 30, 2019. “Scott has had tremendous influence in making cities more equitable and more sustainable,” said CNT Board Chair Robert Henderson. “From his innovative ideas for handling water, energy, transportation, and other critical urban systems, to his... Continue reading »

Toward the end of March, CNT presented at Flint’s 3rd annual Environmental Justice and Resiliency summit. The summit featured four days’ worth of panels, interactive sessions, and trainings on topics ranging from trauma-informed art therapy to creating a blue-green economy in Flint. CNT was pleased to share the stage with Amy Hovey of the C.S. Mott Foundation, Leah Wiste of Michigan Interfaith Power and Light, and the City of Flint’s former CFO Hughey Newsome and Water Superintendent Rob... Continue reading »

The transportation sector is changing rapidly: growth in rideshare services (e.g. Uber, Lyft, and bikeshare), vehicle electrification, and introduction of autonomous vehicles will together lead to a complete re-imagining of our transportation system. New mobility options create new opportunities, but also the potential to widen disparities by income and race – unless we explicitly plan for equity. For that reason, the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) participated on Chicago’s New... Continue reading »

Last week, I had a chance to introduce the Center for Neighborhood Technology to two new groups of potential friends and partners. First, we were visited by a group of Google product managers from across the nation. Many of CNT’s online interactive tools are based on Google Maps, and our conversation quickly focused on how we use these tools to identify and address urban issues. We had innumerable questions for each other: how can we partner to better calculate local transportation-related... Continue reading »

  Buffalo’s aging infrastructure poses a lead problem. But a one-stop-shop model could unite previously siloed agencies toward a solution. Like many old industrial cities in the Great Lakes region, Buffalo, New York—located on the shores of Lake Erie—has a lead poisoning problem. Children in Erie County, many living within the City of Buffalo’s limits, test positive for lead poisoning at rates much higher than New York State average. Given Buffalo’s old housing stock—the city has... Continue reading »

On January 23, 2019, the Chicago City Council passed an amendment to the Municipal Code governing transit-oriented developments (TODs). This amendment modifies transit-served locations to include projects in vicinity of more than 20 CTA-designated high-ridership and high-frequency bus routes along eight1 major corridors and corridor segments. With this amendment, the City administration will also have to create and publish an Equitable TOD (eTOD) Implementation Policy Plan over the next year... Continue reading »

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... Continue reading »

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,... Continue reading »

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.... Continue reading »