Scott Bernstein

President, Center for Neighborhood Technology

Scott Bernstein is founder and president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT). Founded in 1978, CNT is a think-and-do tank that advances urban sustainability by researching, inventing and testing strategies that use resources more efficiently and equitably. Its programs focus on climate, energy, water, transportation, and community development. CNT is a co-founder and partner of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD), the only national nonprofit effort dedicated to providing best practices, research and tools to support market-based transit-oriented development. CNT received a 2009 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.

Bernstein leads CNT’s work to understand and better disclose the economic value of resource use in urban communities. Bernstein co-developed the H + T® Affordability Index, an innovative tool that measures the true affordability of housing based on its location. Bernstein works with governors, mayors and metropolitan organizations to advance sustainability principles. He helped write a climate change strategy for the first 100 days of the Obama Administration, and led a team of CNT staff in creating the landmark Chicago Climate Action Plan.

Bernstein is a board member of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and Congress for the New Urbanism. He was a founding board member of the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program.  He co-founded and is the current Chair of the Surface Transportation Policy Project. He is a fellow of the Center for State Innovation. Bernstein studied at Northwestern University, served on the research staff of Northwestern’s Center for Urban Affairs and taught at UCLA.

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