New Urbanism
ESD specialises in New Urbanism (see www.cnu.org and www.acnu.org) at all scales, and has played a leading role over the past decade in introducing New Urbanism to Australia and New Zealand. ESD has focused on adapting the New Urbanism to Australian and New Zealand contexts, and on embedding it into policy and regulatory environments.
New Urbanism aims to produce walkable, mixed-use sustainable communities. New Urbanism incorporates a range of housing types to fit diverse populations, and more compact and site-responsive development to optimise environmental and urban outcomes. New Urbanist developments compatibly integrate local employment with pedestrian-friendly, socially cohesive, and transit-supportive neighbourhoods, in order to reduce travel demand and car-dependency. New Urbanism also provides an integrated approach to sustainable growth management, holistically addressing the region, district, corridor, neighbourhood, street and buildings.
Several of ESD's current projects focus on the design of substantial new mixed-use town centres, a critical emerging aspect of delivering successful New Urbanism at a larger scale than the neighbourhood.
Wendy Morris and Chip Kaufman are founding members of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) in the USA, signatories of the CNU Charter, and regular presenters at the annual congresses. ESD has been on the teams that have won the only two Charter Awards given to Australian projects by the Congress for the New Urbanism. Wendy Morris was invited to be a contributing author of the CNU Charter Book (2000), and prepared the chapter relating to the Charter Principle of structuring urban extensions to respond to the new economy. ESD's work is featured in New Urbanism: Comprehensive Report & Best Practices Guide, published by New Urban News, 2003.
ESD is one of the founders of the Australian Congress for New Urbanism (ACNU). ESD was the principal organiser of the First Australian and New Zealand New Urbanism Congress held in Melbourne in April 2001, was on the organising committee for the second Australian Congress for New Urbanism held in Sydney in August 2005, the Perth Study Tour of 2006 and the third congress, ACNU08, held in Brisbane in February of 2008. ESD has edited and produced both editions of Australian New Urbanism: A Guide to Projects.