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Special Features
Networking Reception
The first full day of sessions and tours will be capped off with a dynamic evening
plenary and a hosted networking reception. This social event is designed to
get our multi-disciplinary audience talking and networking with each other
early in the conference.
Water, Water Everywhere
Join national experts and designers for an optional all-day, hands-on workshop
that explores different regional and site-specific strategies for minimizing
stormwater runoff in smart growth communities. Attendees will participate in
exercises that examine approaches for allocating projected growth regionally
and then apply site-specific stormwater strategies to further minimize runoff. Pre-registration and a $50 fee are required to attend.
Promoting Healthy Eating and Active Living through Improvements in the Built
Environment; What Health Professionals Need to Know and What They Can Do
Thursday, 8:30 am - 4:00 pm
More details for this event will be posted in the coming weeks. Pre-registration
and a $50 fee are required to attend.
NCI Charrette Planner© Certificate Training
The NCI is holding a special
3-day training in conjunction with the New Partners Conference! Learn how to
prepare and orchestrate charrettes with NCI's certificate training. Nominate
your project as a case study for the course. Enrollment is limited, so you will
be learning with a small group of experienced practitioners. This intensive training
is intended for community organizations, public staff, developers and design
professionals who will plan, or sponsor a charrette. NCI director and "Charrette
Handbook" author
Bill Lennertz will conduct the course using a fast-paced team exercise approach.
For more details or to register visit: www.charretteinstitute.org.
Optional Pre-Conference Tours of Local Model Projects
All tours carry a nominal
fee to cover transportation costs and refreshments. It is possible to sign up
for more than one tour. Space
on each tour is limited, and pre-registration is required.
Tours 5 and 6 are Sold Out. Tours
9 and 12 have been Cancelled.
| Thursday, 2/8 — 8:30am-12:30pm |
Tour #1 — Playa Vista: Innovative Planning Principles
at Work on Hundreds of Urban Acres in Los Angeles’ Westside
Come
experience Playa Vista, a mixed-use community emerging on land once used
as Hughes Aircraft Company’s headquarters and manufacturing hub. Today,
after decades of planning and debate, over 4,000 people live at Playa Vista,
and over 600 employees currently work there. Winner of the 1999 Ahwahnee
Award of Honor, Playa Vista balances housing, office space, neighborhood
shopping, parks and habitat protection, and provides workforce housing
in the jobs-rich West Los Angeles region. Through compact building
design, habitat preservation and a network of 22 parks, 70 percent of the
development’s original 1,087 acres will be open space. Participants
will experience firsthand the completed portions of the community, integrating
housing, office space, and community-serving retail, organized around ten
neighborhood parks. Transportation includes bus
and walking. Light refreshments will be provided.
Cost: $38 |
Tour #2 — Communities: Recycle, Re-use
and Revitalize
Communities across the United States are dealing with high levels of abandoned
properties. See how Los Angeles turned those abandon properties into neighborhood
assets and revitalized communities. The Enterprise EHOP program took abandoned
FHA foreclosed properties, renovated them and turned them into homeownership
opportunities for low-income families. This tour will show the redevelopment
of these properties in the core city. It is the ultimate example of smart
growth by recycling and reusing existing buildings and infrastructure to
revitalize communities. Much of the renovation of these properties incorporated
substantial green building rehabilitation standards, including in some
cases, solar. Transportation includes bus and walking. Light refreshments
will be provided.
Cost: $38 |
Tour #3 — Downtown Los Angeles Renaissance
Tour
Since 1999 Downtown Los Angeles has been experiencing an
incredible Renaissance. From the Staples Center to the Cathedral of Our
Lady of the Angels, from the Walt Disney Hall to the construction of
thousands of new housing units, Downtown Los Angeles has been on a steady
trend of economic growth for the last eight years. Come join us on a
comprehensive tour of the Downtown market, including condo and loft projects,
as well as Downtown's two mega developments, the $2.5 billion LA Live!
Project next to the Staples Center and the $2 billion Grand Avenue Project
around the Walt Disney Concert Hall. In addition, you'll see the Ralph's
grocery store under construction and discuss the "growing pains" associated
with urban renewal. Transportation includes bus and walking. Light refreshments
will be provided.
Cost: $38 |
Tour #4 — Smart Growth and Global Trade: Considering
Health and Community Impacts in Expanding a Region's Ports, Railyards
and Freeways
The expansion of global trade is impacting local
communities across the nation. The LA/Long Beach Port complex is now
the world's 5th largest port, flooding the region with imported cargo
containers transported by ships, trains and big-rig trucks which emit
tons of pollutants. Residents from port, rail yard, and distribution
center communities believe that the ports are not expanding in the smartest
way possible and that community concerns about noise, pollution, and "community integrity" are often overlooked.
Meanwhile, port growth is considered the region's "economic engine." Join
us for a tour looking at diverse sides of these "smart growth" challenges,
including visiting communities at risk. Transportation includes bus and
walking. Light refreshments will be provided.
Cost: $38 |
*SOLD OUT* Tour #5 — Striking Gold with TOD: New Mixed-Use
Development on the Gold Line *SOLD OUT*
This mobile workshop will survey
the mixed-use development that has occurred along the Gold Line light
rail that runs through a wide variety of neighborhoods in three cities
from downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena. The tour will use the Gold Line,
which starts at the restored Union Station that has seen a spate of recent
residential and office building construction. The tour will also view
the new state park under construction at the “Cornfields” and
other transformations to the industrial area bordering Chinatown. The next
stop will be four new developments with over 500 affordable and market
rate apartments and condominiums built in a formerly abandoned industrial
area of Lincoln Heights. Next will be Mission Meridian, a mixed-use development
with market-rate for-sale homes, station parking and neighborhood retail
in South Pasadena followed by the Archstone Del Mar Station development.
Transportation will be by bus to and from Union Station, Gold Line and
walking. Light refreshments will be provided.
Cost: $38 |
| Thursday, 2/8 — 12:30-4:30pm |
*SOLD OUT* Tour #6 — Sustainable
City: Transportation & Development
in Downtown Santa Monica *SOLD OUT*
The City of Santa Monica is recognized
as a leader in the areas of sustainability and livable communities. The
tour will visit some of the city’s most recognized
destinations and will identify key policies that have guided their development.
Sites include: Third Street Promenade, a 3-block pedestrian district of
mixed use projects; the Transit Mall, a 10-block transit loop with a range
of innovative amenities; Colorado Court, a group of sustainable and affordable
apartments that produces 90% of its electricity from solar panels and that
has been named one of the top 10 green buildings in the country; the Santa
Monica Urban Runoff Reclamation Facility (SMURRF) that treats dry weather
runoff from streets and highways before it enters the ocean; the Robert
Redford building for the National Resources Defense Council, called the “greenist
building” in the nation; and Bergamot station, currently in an art district
featuring the Santa Monica Museum of Art and which will be a future Expo
Light Rail station. Transportation includes bus and walking. Light refreshments
will be provided.
Cost: $38
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Tour #7 — Stops Along the Road: Food Planning
in Los Angeles, One Step at a Time
While everybody loves to eat
not everyone has access to healthy food. This tour will discuss food
security gaps and solutions in Los Angeles, and why food planning should
be a part of every city's vision. Come join us for a lively tour of three
locations within downtown Los Angeles' healthy food system. Our
first stop will be Chinatown, which became the first multicultural district
in the Los Angeles area to host a farmers' market, and features a tremendous
selection of Asian produce. Discussion will focus on land use in the
Central Valley and its impact on farmers. Next you'll see the five-acre
Solano Canyon Community Garden, where we will discuss garden land tenure,
and local community food security benefits. Lastly, you will visit Fine's
Market that has offered the Latino neighborhood it has served in for
over 50 years a convenient family-owned grocery store with a free shopper
shuttle service. Transportation includes bus and walking. Light refreshments
will be provided.
Cost: $38 |
Tour #8 — Preserving the Choice to Stay: Creating
Affordable Housing Options
Too often efforts to revitalize a neighborhood end up displacing working
families and other low-income people as property values and rents rise.
For over 20 years, the City of Los Angeles has lent financial support to
a number of non-profit developers to build or rehab affordable housing
in and around downtown. Most of these apartments are of high quality design
and are excellent examples of infill development that strengthens neighborhoods.
They provide the foundation for a choice for current residents to stay
in their neighborhood even as rents rise around them. The tour will focus
on the variety of affordable housing in the neighborhoods to the west and
south of downtown. Transportation includes bus and walking. Light refreshments
will be provided.
Cost: $38 |
Tour #9 — Downtown Los Angeles: From Sleeping
Giant to Urban Conundrum
*CANCELLED* |
Tour #10 — South LA and Central City West:
Neighborhood Turnaround Strategies in Disadvantaged Communities
Participants
will have an opportunity to see the projects of Community Build, Concerned
Citizens of Los Angeles, and Dunbar Economic Development Corporation.
Highlights will include: the Historic Central Avenue Corridor, Commercial
Corridor and Community Safety Initiatives; Leimert Park Commercial Corridor
Program & African American Cultural Neighborhood; Mixed-use
Marketplace and Non-Profit Office Space Development Neighborhood turnaround
Initiative Program; as well as several shopping center and multi-family
affordable housing developments throughout the tour. Transportation includes
bus and walking. Light refreshments will be provided.
Cost: $38 |
Optional Post-Conference Tours of Local Model Projects
All tours carry a nominal fee to cover transportation costs and refreshments. It is possible to sign
up for more than one tour. Space on each tour is limited, and pre-registration
is required.
| Sunday, 2/11 — Times Vary |
Tour #11 — Angels Walk Tour: Union Station
and El Pueblo de Los Angeles
Union Station is widely regarded as the last great train station built
in the United States. This ornate station, blending Spanish Colonial Revival
with Art Deco and Mediterranean elements, was completed in 1939. Now a
hub for Metrolink commuter rail, Metro subway and light rail, and Amtrak
regional and interstate rail, Union Station is the third busiest train
station in the US, hosting 76,000 daily passengers.
Across Alameda Street from Union Station is El Pueblo de Los Angeles,
the city's birthplace and a remnant of its original village scale. This
collection of 19th-century architecture includes the Church of Our Lady
Queen of the Angels. El Pueblo regularly hosts traditional Mexican cultural
events at the covered bandstand in a plaza ringed by mature Banyan trees.
To the north of the plaza is Olvera Street, a vintage paseo that has been
transformed into a bustling, idealized Mexican marketplace. El Pueblo contains
the only public mural by the renowned Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros,
which was completed in 1932. Now separated from downtown Los Angeles by
the Santa Ana Freeway, planned pedestrian enhancements will reconnect El
Pueblo with the Civic Center. Transportation includes walking. Light refreshments
will be provided.
Time: 8:00am-Noon
Cost: $18 |
Tour #12 — Rebuilding Neighborhoods One Block
at a Time: Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative
*CANCELLED* |
Tour #13 — Latino Urbanism Tour: The Organic
Pedestrianization of Public Space
This tour visits Los Angeles' predominantly Latino retail districts and
neighborhoods, and explores how LA's Latino culture has influenced building
iconography and the retrofitting of public spaces to fit their needs. Sites
featured include parts of Downtown Los Angeles, and surrounding historic
neighborhoods of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. Transportation includes
bus and walking.
Time: 9:00-11:00am
Cost: $38 |
Tour #14 — Discover Los Angeles' Hidden River
The
L.A. River runs 52 miles through the heart of L.A. Though it is best known
as a concrete backdrop for violent film scenes, it also has pleasant natural
stretches with abundant flora and fauna. Current efforts to restore the
river to health have become the most ambitious project to revitalize Los
Angeles. Join Joe Linton, Friends of the LA River's Director of Outreach,
on a tour of current and planned restoration sites. We’ll walk and drive
along the L.A. River, as we talk about its central role in the city’s past
and the necessity of its comeback to L.A.’s future. Transportation includes
bus and walking. Light refreshments will be provided.
Time: 9:00am-Noon
Cost: $38 |
Tour #15 — A Smart Growth Walking Tour of the
New Hollywood
Hollywood is rapidly transforming into one of LA’s most interesting and
walkable urban neighborhoods. Building upon the development of the metro
stops along Hollywood Boulevard, a new Hollywood is emerging that embodies
the very best ideas of Smart Growth. Hollywood is developing a neighborhood
that has jobs, housing, and entertainment all within walking distance to
the subway. Learn how city officials are promoting new ideas for parking,
transportation, open space and public art that will improve the quality
of life in Hollywood for decades to come. Transportation includes bus and
walking. Light refreshments will be provided.
Time: 8:00am-Noon
Cost: $38 |
Be sure to visit our on-line agenda for
a full listing of conference sessions!
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