More than 1,200 planners, architects, developers and civic leaders gathered across Bentonville and Fayetteville this month for the 34th Congress for the New Urbanism, bringing the country’s foremost annual gathering on urban design, housing and regional planning to Arkansas for the first time.
CNU 34, held May 12-16, drew national attention to Northwest Arkansas at a moment when the region is actively engaged in long-term decisions about growth, infrastructure and community development. Ahead of the conference, CNU’s Public Square journal described Northwest Arkansas as “one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, and one of the few still deciding what that growth should look like.”
Northwest Arkansas Council President and CEO Nelson Peacock joined Tim Conklin of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission and Wes Craiglow of ULI Northwest Arkansas on Saturday for a panel titled “What’s at Stake for Northwest Arkansas: A Conversation on the Human Impact of Planning for Growth.” The discussion examined the opportunities and pressures facing the region as population and economic growth continue to accelerate.
A consistent theme throughout the week was Northwest Arkansas’ regional structure. Presenters and planners often described the region as a network of distinct downtowns, neighborhoods and communities connected through shared infrastructure, economic ties and regional collaboration. In pre-conference sessions hosted by CNU, regional leaders pointed to that collaborative approach, along with investments in public space and the expansion of the Razorback Greenway and regional trail network, as examples of how Northwest Arkansas is approaching growth differently than many peer regions.
Programming throughout the week included sessions tied to Growing Home NWA, the region’s long-term vision for managing growth as Northwest Arkansas presses on toward 1 million residents by 2050. It’s near 630,000 residents today, and the region will need thousands of housing units and will have to spend billions of dollars on infrastructure to provide for all the people who haven’t yet arrived.
Housing affordability, infrastructure demand and sprawl were central topics across the conference. Those pressures are reflected directly in the Growing Home NWA Regional Vision and companion strategies released earlier this year. The strategy found that if current development patterns continue unchanged, Northwest Arkansas would urbanize 59 square miles by 2050, increasing long-term infrastructure costs and limiting housing options across the region.
With a more measured approach that aligns with core values of CNU, Northwest Arkansas could reduce its urban footprint by about 22 square miles. To get there, the region will have to increase urban density, invest in public transit, create more walkable mixed-used neighborhoods, invest in downtowns and pursue more of its greatest challenges at the region level rather than city by city.
The conference closed with community open houses focused on housing, transportation and regional development.
Northwest Arkansas has grown 41% since 2010, adding nearly 15,000 residents in the past year alone. CNU 34 brought that growth story to a national audience and placed the region’s planning work in a broader conversation about how fast-growing communities can build with intention.
