A few things happen locally now when you remark in a conversation that you would like to attend a “new urbanism” event. Either folks look at you with a vacant, “I-don’t-know-what-you-are-saying” blank stare, roll their eyes large, or get so excited they nearly spill their craft beer on your artisan cheese board.
But you’d be wrong to roll your eyes or look confused when you consider how incredibly cool it is that the Inner City Christian Federation (ICCF) is bringing to Grand Rapids
a program of short films from the New Urbanism Film Festival (NUFF), held in Los Angeles each year since 2013.
The NUFF L.A.-based event is known for its immersive experiences created around the topic of new urbanism, like walking tours, bike rides, art strolls, and foodie stops, but also for the thought-provoking films that it screens.
Keeping in line with the festival’s vision that dialogue on new urbanism topics needs to be happening outside of places like the classroom, developers’ offices, or city hall, the New Urbanism Film Festival has been taking the best of the festival on the road to communities around the nation in the hopes of sparking local dialogue around the issue.
New Urbanism’s short films program will continue the festival’s mission to present emerging themes like the merits of creating walkable neighborhoods with tree-lined streets, as well as looking into topics like mixed housing neighborhoods, parks and green spaces, and how architecture and good design play into what works…and what may not.
This night’s diverse program will address in this bite-sized format a host of topics that only a short film can deliver with insights on density, design, walkability, urban cycling, displacement, public art, and even parking.
This ICCF event is co-sponsored by the
Michigan chapter of the Congress for New Urbanism.
Admission: $3