Center for Neighborhood Technology

Scott Bernstein is CNT's founder and President. Kathryn Tholin was appointed CEO of CNT in September 2005, after serving as the interim CEO since February 2005. Stephen Perkins, Ph.D., who joined CNT in 1980, is CNT's Senior Vice President, and Jacky Grimshaw, who joined CNT in 1992, is CNT's Vice President for Policy, Transportation & Community Development.

CNT was recognized on April 28, 2009, as one of only eight organizations from around the world to receive the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.[2] CNT received the award for its use of cutting-edge research to develop and implement transformative ideas for improving the quality of life in urban neighborhoods, including car sharing and energy audits. The award recognizes organizations that are "highly creative and effective, have made an extraordinary impact in their fields and are helping to address some of the world's most challenging problems."[3]

In 2000, the Center for Neighborhood Technology renovated their offices to the highest standards of the LEED Green Building Rating System. In December 2005, the building became the thirteenth building to receive a "Platinum" LEED ranking.

The Center for Neighborhood Technology has been conducting research and developing and testing innovative programs to use urban resources more efficiently for almost 30 years. These efforts inevitably relate to the growing concerns about reducing greenhouse gas emissions and slowing global warming.

CNT's research has shown that cities can be the most efficient places to live, with their lower per capita greenhouse gas emissions due to efficient land use and transportation alternatives. Because urban areas are compact and have extensive mass transit and communication networks, they offer the greatest opportunities to help solve the climate crisis by expanding and enhancing their existing strategies for reducing carbon emissions.

In September 2008, the City of Chicago released its Climate Action Plan, which describes the major effects climate change could have on the city and suggests ways to address those challenges.[4] CNT led the mitigation research team for the Chicago Climate Change Task Force that developed the report.

CNT is not merely working to promote change locally however; it also took part in developing the Presidential Climate Action Plan, a comprehensive and detailed plan to help the next President of the United States take action on global warming within the first 100 days of the new administration.[5]

In 2000, Elevate Energy (formerly known as the Community Energy Cooperative) was created. Elevate Energy's areas of focus include building performance and energy efficiency, real-time electricity pricing, climate change analysis, regional energy planning, and green building research and evaluation.

In June 2008, CNT launched the Illinois Smart Grid Initiative, a voluntary group of state and local government, as well as consumer, business, environmental and utility stakeholders that will collaborate to examine how consumers can benefit from a comprehensive overhaul and modernization of the power grid in Illinois.[6]

CNT, in collaboration with the Community Investment Corporation, created the Cook County Energy Savers to provide owners of multi-family buildings with recommendations and solutions for energy efficiency. It is "a one-stop energy efficiency shop" that offers energy assessments, financing options for implementing energy recommendations, assistance with coordinating tax benefits, and annual reports on energy performance. CNT published "Engaging as Partners in Energy Efficiency: Multifamily Housing and Utilities" in 2012, discussing how upgrades in multifamily buildings could save both building owners and residents up to a billion nationwide.[7]

One of Elevate Energy's most recent projects is Power Smart Pricing, which allows users to pay the hourly, wholesale market price of electricity, and save money by timing their electricity usage to the hours when it is cheapest.

CNT helps communities find solutions to problems stemming from deteriorating water infrastructure like unreliable service, rising water rates, and flooded neighborhoods. In 2012, CNT launched the "Smart Water for Smart Regions" initiative, which includes new research, inventive solutions, and regional advocacy focused on water supply and stormwater in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The initiative helps communities deliver water services to homes and business efficiently, effectively, and transparently, while sustaining water resources in the region.[8]

Another issue CNT considers a priority is the handling of stormwater. Its goals are to reduce flooding, cut stormwater treatment and energy costs, and protect rivers, lakes, and vital landscape.[9] In 2005, CNT developed a way to measure the effects of storm water management in an effort to promote green infrastructure that better handles storm water (i.e. rain gardens, porous pavement, green roofs, drainage swales). The Green Values calculator allows developers, regulators or simple property owners "to assess the economic and hydrological impact of green vs. conventional storm water management."

Working with Hey and Associates, Inc.,[10] CNT published "Monitoring and Documenting the Performance of Stormwater Best Management Practices" in 2012, a report on a 2009-2010 project to monitor and document the performance of stormwater best management practices. There were three components of the project:

1. Conducting real-time monitoring on a bioswale and two patches of permeable concrete and documented the results;
2. Developing and implementing an inventory of green infrastructure features throughout the 6-county Chicago Region;
3. Selecting 15 rain gardens for infiltration testing and three of those for additional synthetic drawdown testing and documented the results.[11]

CNT published "The Value of Green Infrastructure: A Guide to Recognizing Its Economic, Environmental and Social Benefits" in January, 2011, a broad analysis that places an economic value on the numerous benefits provided by green infrastructure. By publishing this, CNT has hoped to inform decision-makers and planners about the multiple benefits green infrastructure delivers to communities and to guide communities in valuing the benefits of potential green infrastructure investments.[12]

Students at St. Margaret Mary plant a rain garden

In October, 2008, CNT collaborated with the Water Environment Federation (WEF) to organize the building of a rain garden in Pulaski Park. Built by volunteers, the rain garden is just one example of how green infrastructure can be beautiful as well as beneficial.[13]

CNT's "Recommendations for Integrated Water Resources Planning in Lake Zurich" provides objective, external analysis and recommendations to advise the Village of Lake Zurich on an integrated water resources plan.[14]

CNT promotes research and action on understanding housing and transportation affordability, revitalizing and developing communities and public involvement in shaping policy. Its work has led to the creation of the I-GO carsharing program, and a number of tools created to increase awareness of the importance of transportation planning and promote better mass transit.

CNT is a founder of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership (STPP), which is a nationwide coalition working to promote smarter transportation choices, and CNT's own Jacky Grimshaw is the Chair of the STPP steering committee.

In 2003, CNT, along with Reconnecting America and Strategic Economics, launched the Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD) to help bring transit-oriented development (TOD) to scale as a nationally recognized real estate product.[15]

As part of their commitment to TOD, CNT helped form the Lake Street Coalition, which successfully fought to keep the 'L' station at Pulaski and Lake Streets open when the CTA threatened to close it in the early 1990s. They then joined with another member of the Lake Street Coalition, Bethel New Life, in an effort to revitalize and rehabilitate the area surrounding the 'L' station; initiating a neighborhood planning process.[16] CNT has also signed agreements with two communities, Blue Island and Harvey, for a public planning project that draws community benefits from already existing but undervalued transit and freight assets in Cook County suburbs.