Dynamic Plenaries

Getting to Just Growth and Shared Prosperity: Lessons from Communities across the Nation

Local leaders across the country are struggling to improve community prosperity and resilience in the face of racially motivated violence, increasing income inequality, and growing economic dislocation and political polarization. Our panel includes Glenn Harris, who has worked with community leaders across the nation on issues of race and social justice and Professor Manuel Pastor, author of two groundbreaking books on equity and growth. This plenary will provide a broad perspective on lessons learned and local successes from communities balancing social equity and economic growth in a rapidly evolving civic landscape.

Speakers

Kate Meis
Executive Director, Local Government Commission

Pam O’Connor
Councilmember, City of Santa Monica

Glenn Harris
President, Race Forward; Publisher, Colorlines

Manuel Pastor
Professor of Sociology and American Studies, University of Southern California

Technology and Smart Growth: What Local Leaders Can Learn from Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley has served as our country’s test bed of technological innovation. From Apple to Tesla and Airbnb to Lyft, technology developed in the Bay Area has spread across the world and disrupted a range of industries, creating new and exponential opportunities for social change, economic growth and community resiliency. The world is being dramatically reshaped: More than at perhaps any time in history, we have the tools to deliberately reshape ourselves, our leadership and decision-making processes, the responsibilities and transparency of our institutions, the connectedness and engagement of our society, and the breadth and commitment of our ethical choices. This panel will discuss the rapid pace of technological change and how it affects the current potential and future prospects for social equity, mobility and community planning in cities large and small.

Speakers

Steve Hansen
Councilmember, City of Sacramento

Carl Guardino
CEO, Silicon Valley Leadership Group

Chris Lehane
Head of Global Policy and Public Affairs, Airbnb

Joseph Okpaku
Vice President of Public Policy, Lyft

Subnational Leadership: Smart-Growth Solutions for Red and Blue Leaders

With the changing landscape of federal funding for infrastructure and local projects, cities and states across the nation are stepping up to fill the void. This panel will feature two leaders from Red States working at the city and state level to increase local independence in energy, transportation, industry and national security to forward-looking models of sustainability and resiliency. Republican Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes will discuss how he became a transit believer and worked on the front to expand the regional transit system along the fast-growing Utah Wasatch Front. Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson – the first woman to lead the City of Gary and the first African-American female mayor in the State of Indiana – will discuss leading on climate change from a blue city in a very red state and how her legacy steel city is transitioning to a more sustainable future.

Speakers

Jake Mackenzie
Mayor, City of Rohnert Park

Gregory Hughes
Speaker, Utah House of Representatives

Karen Freeman-Wilson
Mayor, City of Gary, Indiana