Who We Are

Working for walkable, livable communities in Buffalo and Western New York since 1999

Partners for a Livable Western New York was formed in 1999 by 15 Western New Yorkers who wanted to help to improve the land-use and built environment of our local communities. We’re a cross-section of our community, counting among our members lawyers, architects, planners, builder/developers, traffic engineers, public officials and many other concerned citizens. Our mission is to bring about more livable communities by promoting and supporting regional and local policies and regulations for cohesive neighborhood development, stabilization of existing neighborhoods, transit oriented development, preservation of environmentally sensitive areas, and inter-municipal coordination and implementation of land-use decisions. Since our founding, this all-volunteer, not-for-profit corporation has been active in promoting this mission in a variety of ways, including:

• bringing major speakers to Buffalo;
• organizing multi-week series of informative programs on Smart Growth;
• walking over 30 neighborhoods in Western New York communities with teams of experts;
• given powerpoint presentations on improving land use and the built environment to public officials and community groups;
• advocated for legislation and public policy supportive of the organization’s mission;
• published a newsletter sent to an audience of more than 650 subscribers;
• helped to found Empire State Future, a coalition of 70 organizations that support smart growth policies and principles in New York State
• serving as the host committee for the 2014 Congress for the New Urbanism in Buffalo that attracted 1355 people from 19 countries and included presentations from some of the world’s leading experts on planning, architecture, and transportation.

In 2016 the group became an official regional affiliate of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) as part of CNU’s New York State Chapter.