The Local Government Commission (LGC) has secured continuing education credits for AICP planners for nearly all of the conference sessions. AICP members may earn certificate maintenance (CM) credits by attending accredited sessions and self-reporting their attendance at planning.org/cm (login with your member ID and password).
These sessions are marked in the program with “CM” followed by the number of credits indicated for each.
7 AM – 5 PM
7 – 10 AM
8 AM – 12 PM
9 AM – 12 PM
Plaza Room A
CM 3.0
Cost: $49 (Advance registration is required)
With our nation in one of the most heated conversation on issues of race in generations, the question of the role of government in resolving some of our most persistent economic and social challenges have emerged as central to local, state and national policy. How local governments respond to the myriad of pressures they face from federal initiatives, divisive political debates and unprecedented demands by residents will help shape the direction our democracy takes in the years to come. This is truly a decisive moment in our country’s continuing evolution on issues of race, class and culture.
Fortunately, local governments can make a coordinated response. The Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) is a national network of government working to achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all. Across the country, governmental jurisdictions are making a commitment to achieving racial equity, focusing on the power and influence of their own institutions, and working in partnership with other sectors while building improved relationships with the community. When this occurs, significant leverage and expansion opportunities emerge, setting the stage for the achievement of racial equity in our communities.
Join this three-hour, pre-conference workshop to be introduced to GARE, learn about its theory of change, and see those theories put into practice by a range of jurisdictions from throughout California and across the country. Both government and non-government attendees are welcome to participate in the session, which will align squarely with the Inclusive People and Prosperity Track during the conference.
Register for this workshop by selecting it from the “Tours and Activities” page of your conference registration: Register Today!
To add this workshop to your registration click here
To register for this workshop only (and not the conference) click here
Julie Nelson, Director, Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE);
Senior Vice President, Race Forward ;
Senior Fellow, Haas Institute for a Fair & Inclusive Society
Dwayne Marsh, Deputy Director, Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE);
Vice President of Institutional Change, Race Forward
1:00 PM – 3 PM
Continental Ballroom 4-6
CM: 2.0
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.
Kate Meis, Executive Director, Local Government Commission
Pam O’Connor, Councilmember, City of Santa Monica; Board Chair, Local Government Commission
Glenn Harris, President, Race Forward; Publisher, Colorlines
Manuel Pastor, Professor of Sociology and American Studies, University of Southern California
3 – 3:30 PM
3:30 – 5 PM
Continental Ballroom 7-8
CM 1.5
Climate action is rapidly evolving across the country. A growing understanding of our need to address climate adaptation and mitigation in an integrated manner, along with the need to meaningfully incorporate social-equity and environmental-injustice concerns is changing best practices and bringing forward a new group of leaders in the climate-action arena. Along with this shift toward holistic or systems-thinking approaches, the emergence of the private sector leading across the climate movement also provides new opportunities for growth in the field. These new factors in fighting climate change also require new partnerships and relationships to arise between public, social profit and for-profit stakeholders.
This session will kick off off the Climate Change track with a series of vignettes illuminating the technical and personal side of adaptation and mitigation from across the country. Using a unique format that you’ll love, our panel of experts will discuss the culture of climate change and how our biases hamper effective action, why business leadership is important, and what it means to adopt a “systems-thinking” approach.
The story of how climate action – when done well – can serve as a conduit for addressing layered vulnerabilities in our built environment and social injustice in our political and regulatory environments will be addressed through personal stories of courageous leadership and technical savvy.
ImplementationWorkshop_Synthsis Activity_FINAL
Beth Gibbons, Managing Director, American Society of Adaptation Professionals
Joyce Coffee, President, Climate Resilience Consulting
Michael McCormick, Senior Planner, Governor’s Office of Planning and Research
Manisha Patel, Associate Director for Environmental Policy, WSP
Kit Batten, Climate Resilience Chief, Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Jake Mackenzie, Council Member, City of Rohnert Park and Chair of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Amanda Ford, Environmental Justice and Ministry Director, Take Care Institute for Equity and Justice
Golden Gate Room 2-3
CM 1.5
The trajectory of housing options, production and availability has experienced deep swings during the last 20 years. From boom years to recession foreclosures and economic recovery, the housing landscape has shifted as budgets retool, cities return, consumer preferences change, and affordability is redefined. A steady stream of federal, state and local housing subsidies has also increased affordable-housing stock while neighborhoods experienced gentrification pressures, and continuing federal-housing commitments are at best uncertain.
Pause with a team of national experts for a thoughtful and provocative conversation on the state of housing today. Looking back, have we made the right decisions about ensuring housing choices for all people regardless of income? How has the smart-growth movement affected the relationship of housing to vibrant places? Are there losers and winners? Looking forward, what are the housing challenges and opportunities that all communities must address within viable sustainability strategies? Explore the context for how leaders build the next generation of smart, equitable housing that works for everybody.
Julie Seward, Principal, Julia Seward Consulting
Chris Herbert, Managing director, Harvard Joint Center
Buzz Roberts, President and CEO, National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders
David Erickson, Director of Community Development, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Continental Ball Room 1
CM 1.5
Our uncertain climate and water future – with extreme weather events, water scarcity, changing precipitation patterns, demographics, and development decisions – is disrupting our water infrastructure, management practices, and governance structures. We need a new strategy to ensure we meet current and future water needs by creating a resilient watershed, robust economy and quality of life for all community members. This session will address the current state of our water systems, and introduce the audience to the “One Water” concept, or Integrated Water Management (IWM), a holistic systems-based approach that includes collaboration across and between sectors for better planning, decision-making and operations. Attendees will be equipped with new strategies and first steps to implementing the “One Water” approach.
Celeste Cantu, General Manager, Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority
Steve Moddemeyer, Principal, CollinsWoerman
Golden Gate Room 4-5
CM 1.5
This session will ground attendees in the healthy communities movement and will offer a preview of the Designing Healthy Communities track at NPSG. After presenting a review of healthy communities resources and recommendations, the session will introduce the four pillars of the Joint Call to Action to Promote Healthy Communities: build relationships, establish health goals, implement strategies to improve health, and share expertise. The session will ground attendees in a brief history of unintended consequences in design before looking toward promising practices that implement components of the Call to Action framework. Session attendees will engage in peer sharing, discuss conference topics, and identify actions to be completed at NPSG—and beyond.
Miguel Vazquez, Urban Planner, County of Riverside
Anna Ricklin, Manager, Planning and Community Health Center, American Planning Association
Saneta DeVuono-Powell, Senior Planner, ChangeLab Solutions
Robert Baird, Program Manager, Prevention Institute
Golden Gate Room 6-7
CM 1.5
Rapid shifts in the transportation sector demand new responses from all levels of government. A new federal administration has opened up threats of cuts to critical clean-transportation funding but also issued promises of infrastructure investment. Meanwhile, some states are pursuing increases in gas taxes and transportation bonds. For their part, local governments are grappling with years of declining state and federal funding by pursuing new strategies including value-capture methods to keep some of the benefits created by their transportation investments.
All levels of government are responding to shifting transportation preferences and emerging trends in shared mobility and automation. This session will provide a current snapshot of transportation at each level of government.
Emiko Atherton, Director of the National Complete Streets Coalition, Smart Growth America
Ellen Greenberg, Deputy Director for Sustainability, Caltrans
Bill Higgins, Executive Director, California Association of Councils of Governments
Kevin Thompson, Director, Transportation for America
Continental Ballroom 2-3
CM 1.5
The events of the past year remind us that inclusive, equitable prosperity for all people and places continues to elude our best intentions, including among those of us committed to smart growth and livable communities. The opening session of this track provides an opportunity to pause and reflect on how the practice and policies of exclusion may restrict the vitality of sustainable places. National experts will join us to consider how we define, articulate and support inclusive prosperity for the decade ahead, while also looking back at some of the painful lessons learned.
Vernice Miller-Travis, Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice and Equitable Development, Skeo
Chris Benner, Dorothy E. Everett Chair in Global Information and Social Entrepreneurship, University of California, Santa Cruz
Glenn Harris, President, Race Forward; Publisher, Colorlines
Plaza A
CM 1.5
Smart growth is changing with the times. Today, in many communities, issues of social equity drive smart growth planning just as much as issues of environmental sustainability and economic vitality. In “Smart Growth 3.0–The Social Equity Era of Sustainable Smart Growth”, participants will hear about how the increasing focus on social equity issues has helped to shape smart growth plans in Washington, DC, Columbus, OH, and Davidson, NC. Nationally renowned experts from Policy Link and ChangeLab Solutions will speak to the national context of the evolution of smart growth with regard to addressing social equity issues and incorporating public health concerns. The session will also explore how placemaking techniques can quickly lead to smart growth outcomes and will explore how placemaking relates to social equity concerns. This session will set a context for all of the sessions in the “Planning and Designing Smart Growth Communities” track. Come get with the times in this engaging dialogue on the trajectory of smart growth in America!
Anu Natarajan, Urban Planning and Community Engagement Consultant, California Emerging Technology Fund
Harriet Tregoning, Former DC Planning Director, U.S. HUD
Craig Lewis, Principal, Stantec
Erik Calloway, Senior Planner, ChangeLab Solutions
Sarita Turner, Associate Director, PolicyLink
Continental Ballroom 9
CM 1.5
What is rurality and what does smart growth mean in today’s rural context? The “Rural-Urban Divide” question is once again in the forefront of conversations about changes in the American political culture and landscape. Talking, thinking, and defining what constitutes rural community, economics and small town life will be the focus of this session. It will kick off with a national look at the state of people, production, and environment beyond the nation’s urban centers. Views from the West (California), Midwest (Indiana), Mid-Atlantic South (Virginia) and Northeast (Maine) will follow.
Mike Callahan, Principal Planner, EPR
Glenda Humiston, Vice President, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources
Mark Lapping, Professor, Policy, Planning and Management, University of Southern Maine
Mike Wilcox, Senior Associate, Purdue Center for Regional Development
5 – 6 PM
6 PM
7:30 – 9 PM
7:30 – 9 AM
7:30 – 8:45 AM
Continental Ballroom 2-3
Come meet your colleagues working on planning, health and built environment issues around the country to network and talk about common struggles. This will be a unique forum where challenges are valued for the insight and creativity they inspire. Participants will decide on topics for small group discussions, which may include difficulties in navigating turf issues, facilitating clashes between advocates and local government, or maintaining momentum for projects with massive delays. Arrive with a problem, share a solution or surprising outcome, and leave with support from a new network of colleagues who are in the same boat.
Grab your breakfast and join us!
Continental Ballroom 9
Smart growth is happening all across the country – from rural communities and small towns to big cities and suburban areas. Do you already work on smart growth issues in a rural region or small town, and want to know what others are doing? Are you an urban dweller interested in rural towns near your city and the role rural places play in your urban economy? Do you want to learn more about how to forge meaningful partnerships between rural communities and urban areas? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, then this networking session is for you! The session will include small group discussions on economic diversification, demographic change, rural-urban connections, and more, and will build on the themes discussed during the conference. Please join us to contribute and learn from these rich conversations, and to connect with others who care about smart growth in small towns and rural communities.
9 – 10:15 AM
Continental Ballroom 4-6
CM: 1.25
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.
Carl Guardino, CEO, Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Steve Hansen, Councilmember, City of Sacramento
Chris Lehane, Head of Global Policy and Public Affairs, Airbnb
Joseph Okpaku, Vice President of Public Policy, Lyft
10:15 – 10:30 AM
10:30 AM – 12 PM
Continental Ballroom 7-8
CM 1.5
As highlighted in the opening session, the “new normal” of climate change presents more erratic and powerful weather extremes, from heat and rain to droughts, wildfires and rising seas, we must reconsider how we plan and design our cities and regions to reduce heat-trapping emissions and prepare our infrastructure and communities for a changing climate. These planning strategies also need to consider other social, sustainability, risk-management and economic-development goals.
Using a 10-14-28 presentation approach, this Emerging Trends session will provide a rapid-fire showcase of ideas, innovations and concepts about key infrastructure-related trends that are emerging in the policy, science, financial and community spaces. These trends span across the public and private sectors with impacts that will affect infrastructure and communities that depend on it, highlighting both challenges and opportunities.
Trends you will hear about in this session include: (1) innovations in whole-systems and regional approaches to climate action popping up across the country; (2) how communities are tapping big data and the smart-cities movement to build resilience; (3) emerging challenges and opportunities from anticipated population migration and retreat from vulnerable areas; (4) the private sector’s increasing role in investing in a resilient, sustainable future and; (5) the importance of a 21st-century grid infrastructure to many of our most promising response strategies.
Jamesine Rogers Gibson, Western States Senior Climate Analyst, Union of Concerned Scientists
Jessica Grannis, Adaptation Program Manager, Georgetown Climate Center
Liz Williams, Coastal Community Resilience Director, Foundation for Louisiana
Melanie Nutter, Principal, Nutter Consulting
Emily Wasley, Director of Climate Security, Adaptation, and Resilience, Cadmus
Garrett Wong, Sustainability Analyst, City of Santa Monica
Golden Gate Room 2-3
CM 1.5
From small towns to big cities, an affordable place to live is getting harder to come by. The crisis of housing affordability is national, and it is growing. This session will feature dynamic speakers who are ushering in new housing solutions, shifting conventional wisdom, and redefining what affordable housing means.
Our experts will provide a rapid-fire showcase of new approaches to community engagement, housing design and development that respond to the housing-affordability crisis, financing constraints and shifts in housing preferences highlighted in the opening session. Topics will range from home-sharing and micro-housing to the missing middle and millennial YIMBY movements.
You will leave inspired by these new cutting-edge approaches to advancing affordable housing that could be applied to your community.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Home Sharing Program
Home Sharing
Meea Kang, Senior Vice President, Related California LLC
Amy Anderson, Executive Director, PATH Ventures
Kate Comfort, Executive Director, HIP Housing
Patrick Kennedy, Owner, Panoramic Interests
Sonja Trauss, Executive Director, California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund
Sunia Zaterman, Executive Director, Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
Continental Ballroom 1
CM 1.5
Ensuring our water systems adequately meet our current and future needs requires careful planning and nimbleness to respond to unanticipated or changing circumstances. From long-term droughts to extreme flooding, utilities faced with smaller budgets and growing lists of capital improvements, those working at the intersection of water and smart growth know that preparedness, collaboration, technology, and strong policies are critical to developing integrated solutions. This session will focus on two emerging trends in integrated water management: the novel applications of data and participatory planning.
High-tech solutions are not always realistic, accessible, or affordable for smaller agencies or over-burdened communities. Even with high-tech tools, people ultimately make decisions. Panelists will share examples of mitigating disruptive impacts, as well as citizen engagement, participatory planning, and multi-stakeholder collaboration to “disrupt” traditional methods for improved decision-making and better outcomes. Participants will leave with lessons learned and best practices they can apply in their communities.
Michelle Madeley, Presidential Management Fellow, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Jim Horne, Sustainability Program Manager, Office of Wastewater Management, U.S. EPA
Melissa Rosa, West Coast Geospatial Specialist, NOAA
Adel Hagekhalil, Assistant Director, Assistant Director, Bureau of Sanitation, City of Los Angeles
Heather Dennis, Research Analyst, Adapting to Rising Tides Program, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission
Golden Gate Room 4-5
CM 1.5
Two inspiring national leaders working at the intersection of significant trends in health and local policy will discuss how the healthcare sector is moving upstream to address root causes of poor health, and is using a racial equity lens in public policy, programming, and decision-making. We now understand that many “non-health” factors — such as education, affordable housing, food security, clean air and water, safety and social inclusion — drive health outcomes. Communities of color and low-income communities face substantial health inequities. In order to prevent — not just treat — illness, hospitals and health care systems are experimenting with new models of working. At the same time, cities across the US are taking bold steps to dismantle structural racial inequity and rebuild communities. This session will ask: How can these movements be more explicitly linked? How can healthcare and the public sector work together to catalyze better health outcomes for all?
Julie Seward, Principal, Julia Seward Consulting
Glenn Harris, President, Race Forward; Publisher, Colorlines
Rohan Radhakrishna, Chair, Department of Family Medicine, Contra Costa Health Services
Golden Gate Room 6-7
CM 1.5
Rapid technological change and exponential growth of smartphone-enabled platforms have arguably transformed the transportation sector more in the last five years than in the subsequent century since the invention of the Model T.
Our experts will provide a rapid-fire showcase of emerging trends, including autonomous shuttles and the new autonomous parking paradigm, bikeshare and carshare, and the role of transit in the shifting transportation landscape.
Lisa Nisenson, Lead, New Mobility Group, Alta Planning + Design
Charles Brown, Senior Researcher, Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center, Rutgers University
Jeff Tumlin, Director of Strategy, Nelson Nygaard
Justin Erlich, Head of Policy, Uber Elevate & Autonomous Vehicles, Uber
Continental Ballroom 2-3
CM 1.5
Creating more inclusive places where everybody can prosper depends of how we take advantage to cultivate opportunities – and deal with emerging threats – for equity and environmental justice. This session will explore demographic trends driving the displacement of lower-income residents and people of color. What is being done to address these equity concerns, and what must we do that isn’t already being done? As another broad threat to shared prosperity, we will also dig into the disruptive effect that the rise of a more public white nationalism has on inclusive planning efforts across the country.
Meaningful equity ultimately depends on whether people can afford to live in a place. As one way into this issue, we will take a closer look at the federal “Affirmatively Furthering Fair and Affordable Housing” rule to help communities analyze fair housing options and establish equity priorities to overcome affordable-housing barriers.
Climate-change impacts can also present opportunities for incorporating environmental justice into our planning. Our panelists will explore these emerging issues through the story of pioneering climate action in California, and how its leadership and practical strategies offer models for other parts of the country, particularly in its equity and environmental-justice mandates within adaptation and mitigation efforts.
Race Inequality an the Resegregation of the Bay Area – Ellen Wu
City of Charlottesville Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, and Public Spaces
Race, Inequality, and the Resegregation of the Bay Area
http://urbanhabitat.org/sites/default/files/UH%20Policy%20Brief2016.pdf
Regional Resegregation: Reflections on Race, Class, and Power in Bay Area Suburbs
http://urbanhabitat.org/sites/default/files/%20UH%20Discussion%20Paper%20Nov%202017.pdf
Vernice Miller-Travis, Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice and Equitable Development, Skeo
Frank Dukes, Distinguished Institute Fellow, Institute of Environmental Negotiations
Kate White, Deputy Secretary, Environmental Policy and Housing Coordination, California State Transportation Agency
Ellen Wu, Executive Director, Urban Habitat
David Zisser, Senior Staff Attorney, Public Advocates
Plaza A
CM 1.5
A council member, a developer, and an activist walk onto the stage… It may sound like the beginning of a joke, but this session is on emerging trends in smart growth will engage private, public, and non-profit sector leaders from different areas of the United States to share their perspectives on what’s new in smart growth, what’s changing, and how far we have to go. We’re now over 20 years into dialogues about smart growth, and a number of questions demand our attention: is smart growth delivering on social equity? Is it engaging everyone it needs to engage? Is the term “smart growth” outdated? How are economic and technological developments impacting the way we grow, and how should they? It’s often pointed out that real estate as a field is slow to change. If smart growth depends upon real estate to achieve its goals, is it changing enough, or has it fallen victim to the same forces? Join us to find out.
Howard Blackson, Urban Designer, AVRP Skyport Studios
Lance Robbins, CEO, Urban Smart Growth
Alvaro Sanchez, Environmental Equity Director, Greenlining Institute
Abel Guillen, Councilmember, City of Oakland
Continental Ballroom 9
CM 1.5
This session will explore the emerging trends in rural communities across the country. What does the future hold for America’s farmland? What is the impact of technology, automation and the internet (broadband) in rural areas? How are changing demographics reshaping rural communities? What are the emerging models for rural revitalization and capturing return from natural assets? Panelists will speak on trends in rural and small town economic and cultural diversification, creative reuse and transformation of industry, buildings and infrastructure, access to broadband, and evaluating return from ecosystem services.
Adam Livingston, Director of Planning and Policy, Sequoia Riverlands Trust
Julia Freedgood, Assistant Vice President of Programs, American Farmland Trust
Jessica Zufolo, Senior Advisor, Strategic Partnerships, Universal Service Administrative Company
Mike Callahan, Principal Planner, EPR
12 – 1:30 PM
12:15 – 1:25 PM
1:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Continental Ballroom 7-8
CM 2
The imperative of responding to a changing climate requires us to implement strategies that yield multiple climate benefits, promote equity, and safeguard communities and the assets that underpin their well-being. Successful strategies are built on strategic partnerships across public and private sectors. At the same time, they present learning opportunities for communities and broader practitioner networks.
Building on themes explored in the Context and Trends sessions, this session will focus on three real-world case studies that demonstrate to communities’ opportunities to implement multi-benefit, holistic, and collaborative climate solutions at any scale – regardless of where they are on the climate-planning spectrum.
Each case study will be followed by small-group discussions, so you can explore more in-depth how the model project can be relevant in your situation and how you might apply key takeaways to your work back home.
Yoon Hui Kim, Director of Advisory Services, 427 Climate Solutions
Matt Johnson, Environmental Protection Specialist, DC Department of Energy and Environment
Kristin Baja, Climate Resilience Officer, Urban Sustainability Directors Network
Patty Karapinar, Sustainability Director, Architectural Nexus
Golden Gate Room 2-3
CM 2
There is a renewed focus on putting the right strategies and partnerships in place at the state and local levels to spur housing affordability, especially in light of the current uncertainties surrounding federally funded programs. Building on the state of housing and emerging trends highlighted in previous sessions, speakers will share case studies demonstrating strategies that local governments and developers can take to get good housing projects in the ground faster.
This session will spotlight local efforts from across the U.S. to fast track affordable housing, successful public-private partnerships for transit oriented development and innovative developer approaches to engage community members in the earliest stages of project planning.
Mike Kingsella, Government Affairs Manager, Holland Partner Group
Rob Johnson, Councilmember, City of Seattle
John Chandler, CEO, Oregon Home Builders Association
Gretchen Nichols, Program Officer, Twin Cities LISC
Jill Sherman, Partner, Gerding Edlen
Donald Monti, Founder and CEO, Renaissance Group
Continental Ballroom 1
CM 2
Nationwide, our communities face significant disruption from climate change and antiquated water and stormwater infrastructure – more frequent and intense storms, sea level rise, water main breaks, and inadequate infrastructure. This session will showcase real-world examples from forward-looking communities using innovative and integrated approaches to meet their water needs. Topics will include water and stormwater infrastructure, coastal development, flood protection, green infrastructure, and job training programs. Case studies range in size, geographic location, and demographics.
Joan Matthews, Senior Attorney / Water Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
Andy Kricun, Executive Director and Chief Engineer, Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority
Sarah Bryant, Director of Community Initiatives, Coopers Ferry
Doria Robinson, Executive Director, Urban Tilth
Heidi Nutters, Environmental Planner, San Francisco Estuary Partnership
Leslie Webster, Drainage and Wastewater System Planning Program Manager, Seattle Public Utilities
Sarah Minick, Urban Watershed Management Program, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Golden Gate Room 4-5
CM 2
This session will showcase replicable urban and rural strategies at the state and local levels. Using a storytelling approach, the first part of this session will present three examples of how health departments are working as allies and anchors in advancing healthy community efforts. The first story will discuss how Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) and clinics are being used as successful anchors for place-based investment that is driving improvements in economic development, downtown revitalization, and population health. A second story will revolve around the role that state health departments are playing in supporting local efforts. And a third story will showcase universities as partners and collaborators in health. During the second part of the session participants will have an opportunity to engage with the speakers and share their experiences of what’s worked — and what hasn’t worked — in communities across the country.
Heather Wooten, Vice President, ChangeLab Solutions
Elizabeth Limbrick, Project Manager, New Jersey institute of Technology
Megan Wall, Senior Epidemiologist, San Francisco Health Department
Monica Niess, Owner, The Write Choice Network
JayVon Muhammad, Chief Executive Officer, Marin City Health and Wellness Center
Ruth Brock, ALProHealth, Program Manager, Alabama Extension at Auburn University
Barb Struempler, University of Alabama, Auburn
Danielle Schaeffner, Environmental Change Specialist and Physical Activity Coordinator, Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Division, Hawaii State Department of Health
Golden Gate Room 6-7
CM 2
This session will feature practitioners who will share local lessons from real-world projects focused around two sets of case studies:
Transportation Connectivity and Accessibility: Emerging trends in automation and shared mobility open up new challenges and opportunities for pedestrians, bicyclists and people with disabilities. This panel will discuss complete-street strategies and first-mile/last-mile connections to transit.
City-Led Transportation Plans: In addition to traditional regional transportation plans, cities are also increasingly proactive in their efforts to ensure transportation strategies support community goals. This panel will feature cities from across the nation that are developing outreach and incentive programs, streamlining payment, using technology to provide real-time information for riders, increasing amenities and improving access to transit stops to make transit more attractive and convenient.
Gary Toth, Senior Director, Transportation Initiatives, Project for Public Spaces
Kirin Kumar, Executive Director, WALKSacramento
Ben Rosenblatt, Senior Planner, City Strategies, Sam Schwartz Engineering
Lucy Gibson, Principal, DuBois & King
Fred Jones,Fred Jones, Senior Project Manager, Community and Mobility Planning, Michael Baker International
Ange Hwang, Founder and Executive Director, Asian Media Access
Karina Ricks, Director of Mobility and Infrastructure, Pittsburgh Department of Transportation
Continental Ballroom 2-3
CM 2
Communities around the nation are working to better understand the root causes of historic and current inequities and take action to more effectively bridge social disparities in wealth, health, jobs, and housing. In this Model Projects session, we will hear how diverse partnerships in several communities are making progress to address the interrelated challenges of housing, development without displacement, transportation, crime, infrastructure, finance, jobs, and sustainability. We will examine funding mechanisms for these partnerships, what works and what remains to be done, and how you can apply lessons learned to your work.
Case studies and topics in this session will include multi-sector efforts to expand home ownership, living-wage jobs, green infrastructure, and transportation connectivity in Detroit; “inside-out” strategies by government and community coalitions in Nashville to prevent displacement while revitalizing neighborhoods, foster resilience that prioritizes economic inclusion, and strengthen community benefit agreements; and investments in active transportation, equity and climate plans that focus on environmental justice and public health in Fresno.
Tina Yuen, Senior Planner, ChangeLab Solutions
Linda Warren, Senior Vice President of Placemaking, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress
Ashford Hughes, Senior Advisor, Workforce, Diversity and Inclusion, Mayor’s Office, City of Nashville
Odessa Kelly, Organizer, Stand Up Nashville
Veronica Garibay, Co-Director, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Wendy L. Jackson, Managing Director, Detroit Program, Kresge Foundation
Plaza A
CM 2
Inclusion and communication can make or break the most thought-out and extensive planning and policymaking process – who’s invited to the conversation, who’s able to show up – and how do flip chart ideas, dot-exercises, and policies and plans that translate to implementation. This 90-minute session will use a fast-paced, “ignite” style format to present examples of small-scale projects and long-term comprehensive plans, as well as policy efforts which inform local projects and answer some of the following questions:
Following the brief overview of each of these projects, participants will have a chance to break into groups to discuss approaches to implementation.
Allison Joe, Chief of Staff, Office of Councilmember Jay Schenirer, City of Sacramento
Kevin Schronce, Lead Planner/ Planner III, City of Flint, MI
Pat Patrick, Economic Recovery Coordinator, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership
Ana Isabel Baptista, Associate Director, Tishman Environment & Design Center, The New School
John M. Francis, Urban Planner & Designer, Planning Department, City and County of San Francisco
Continental Ballroom 9
CM 2
Small towns across the country are facing a variety of powerful external and internal transformations that are reshaping communities in both positive and negative ways. Forward-thinking and collaborative planning efforts allow local leaders, residents, and business owners to work together to envision and create their community’s future, rather than have that future determined solely by outside economic forces beyond their control. How can small communities build civic infrastructure that empowers residents and decision-makers to shape the future of their communities in a way that upholds the unique character of each place?How can rural places reinvent and build more resilient local economies, while creating great communities to live, work, and play? This session focuses on success stories and models for rural communities and small towns and will highlight best practices in community engagement, economic diversification, and achieving resilience by embracing local assets and resources.
Jane Lafleur, Consultant, JB Lafleur Consultants
Mark Lapping, Professor, Policy, Planning and Management, University of Southern Maine
Steve Frisch, President, Sierra Business Council
Cathie Pagano, Planning Director, One Valley Prosperity Project
Brett Schwartz, Program Manager, NADO Research Foundation
3:30 – 3:45 PM
3:45 PM – 5 PM
Continental Ballroom 7-8
CM 1.25
Throughout this track, the discussion has focused attention on the need for integrated comprehensive, multi-faceted solutions. Such solutions require correspondingly robust tools. At the same time, not everyone who needs to engage with climate action is a technical expert. Working with community groups across ethnic and demographic boundaries also demands appropriate resources and support. There are an ever-increasing number of guidebooks, toolkits, decision support and high-tech tools for tackling climate-change impacts. While the field has responded to the demands for action, it can be overwhelming to choose the right course for your community.
This session will review a matrix of popular tools and evaluate who they might be best suited for. The matrix categorizes a series of tools based on the type, the specific planning phase they are most applicable for, whether they address climate adaptation or mitigation, and the degree of sophistication involved. The speakers will highlight three different tools to illustrate aspects that are suitable for specific activities, audiences and decision-making.
Take a copy of the matrix home with you to use as guidance to find the right tool for your project.
Kim Lundgren, CEO, Kim Lundgren Associates
Fred Gifford, Deputy Director for Conservation GIS, The Trust for Public Land
Crystal Najera, Climate Action Program Administrator, City of Encinitas, CA
Steph Larocque, COO, AutoCase
Golden Gate Room 2-3
CM 1.25
Building on trends and best practices highlighted earlier in the Housing track, this session will focus on tools to build more affordable housing. These tools encompass a diverse range of topics, including crowdfunding, public engagement, displacement indicators and the evaluation of missing-middle building prototypes to determine the feasibility of density bonuses and other incentives.
Our speakers will deliver rapid-fire presentations to showcase their tools, and then lead breakout exercises where you can test out the tools. We encourage you to bring a laptop to participate in the tool demos.
Geeta Rao, Senior Program Director, Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.
Ian Carlton, Urban Development Advisor and Researcher, ECONorthwest
Ben Schulman, Communications and Outreach, SmallChange
Sarah Watson, Deputy Director, Citizens Housing & Planning Council
Naomi Cytron, Regional Manager, Northern California | Community Development, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Continental Ballroom 1
CM 1.25
Communities must adopt an integrated planning approach if they are to anticipate disruption and prepare for a changing climate. Integrated, participatory planning will achieve multi-benefit solutions for a healthier, more resilient future for all. This session will explore two innovative strategies to meet this goal: data visualization and community involvement. Data visualization collects real-time monitoring for more accurate projections, but using that data to its fullest potential requires understanding where it comes from communicating its relevance to cross-agency decision-making. Community engagement and public participation are critical to informing decisions, as well as ensuring cross-collaboration between public agencies, design professionals, and community members to ensure effective implementation of adequate plans.
This session will highlight specific tools used across the country to integrate decision making and prepare communities for the future. We will also discuss ways of breaking down barriers to adopting these tools, via ease of use, cost, and crowd sourcing information, to ensure broad access and benefits to all communities.
Martha Davis, Executive Manager for Policy Development, Inland Empire Utilities Agency
Jacqueline Tkac, CivicSpark Fellow, Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board
Ellory Monks, Co Founder, Atlas Marketplace
Daniel Mountjoy, Director of Resource Stewardship, Sustainable Conservation
Nidhi Kalra, Director, San Francisco Bay Area Office, RAND, Water and Climate Resilience Center
Golden Gate Room 4-5
CM 1.25
This session will provide an introduction to the context of healthy planning and how data and technology are being leveraged to take planning to the next level. The session will provide a high-level overview of the landscape of tools that exist then ground the discussion with a deeper dive into highlighted tools.
The deeper dive will look at how data is being used to cover eight measures to link trails, parks, and public health. Speakers will also cover the data to look at the ecosystem and health. The session will then transition to look at how technology enables web-based evaluation tools to bring in health-related policies in several area including food systems and complete streets.
The end of the session will be a look to the future on how scenario planning and health can be integrated into sustainable planning practices from lessons learned in California with applications for the national context. Can we use data and technology to predict the future and change it for the better?
Kathy Sykes, Senior Advisor for Aging and Sustainability, U.S. EPA, Office of Research and Development (Retired)
Heather Wooten, Vice President, ChangeLab Solutions
Dee Merriam, Community Planner, CDC
Melissa McCullough, Senior Sustainability Advisor, Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program, Office of Research and Development, U.S. EPA
Larry Frank, President, Urban Design for Health
Golden Gate Room 6-7
CM 1.25
Building on trends and best practices highlighted in the first two sessions, we will focus on tools to advance sustainable-transportation choices. Our panelists will describe tools that assess health and social-equity impacts, plan for transit service, and evaluate transportation service performance.
The speakers will showcase their tool, and lead breakout exercises where you can test out the tool. We encourage you to bring a laptop to participate in the tool demos.
Lisa Nisenson, Lead, New Mobility Group, Alta Planning + Design
Eric Sundquist, State Smart Transportation Initiative, University of Wisconsin
Paul Supawanich, Director of Consumer Success, Remix
Sharon Feigon, Executive Director, Shared-Use Mobility Center
Lauren Blackburn, Senior Project Manager, VHB
Continental Ballroom 2-3
CM 1.25
This session will focus on effective tools used to advance racial justice and expanding fair housing by creating more affordable housing in high opportunity neighborhoods. We will highlight how these tools were created, what partnerships were needed, how questions were formulated, and what data was needed. From the users’ perspective, we will take a closer look at how the tools change outcomes. We will examine the use of racial equity tools at work in a couple of communities. Our discussion about fair housing will feature the work of California’s Fair Housing Task Force and the opportunity analysis developed for the State of California to adjust the way tax credits are allocated.
Miriam Zuk, Director and Senior Researcher, Center for Community Innovation, UC Berkeley
Brenda Anibarro, Policy Manager, Seattle Office for Civil Rights
Sarah Brundage, Policy Director, Northern California Market,Enterprise Community Partners
Megan Kirkeby, Policy Research Specialist, California Department of Housing and Community Development
Nora Liu, Project Manager, Government Alliance on Race and Equity/Center for Social Inclusion
Plaza A
CM 1.25
The session will focus on the connection between open space, connectivity, and access, and how design thinking applies to smart growth planning and community development. It will examine how the use of low-tech and high-tech tools can be combined for a more comprehensive process with long-term results and transformative benefits. Low-tech tools and interventions include pop-up design for playgrounds, tactical urbanism, hands-on complete street demonstrations, and techniques focused on using art for visioning and brainstorming. On the high-tech side, these tools include GIS scenario planning, 3D visualization, 360-immersive video, and mobile apps for crowdsourcing data, engagement, and visualization. The session will introduce attendees to these low- and high-tech tools and then engage attendees in an exercise that demonstrates how these applications are used in practice, before discussing how these different tools and interventions could be combined to build comprehensive community engagement and planning processes.
Cesar Olivas, Architect, Radian Placematters
Joe Distefano, Principal and Co-Founder, UrbanFootprint
Ben Stone, Director of Arts & Culture, Smart Growth America
Breece Robertson, National Geographic Information Systems Director, The Trust for Public Land
Continental Ballroom 9
PDH/HSW 1.25
CM 1.25
Building on trends and best practices highlighted in the previous sessions, this session will showcase tools to support rural-urban connectivity in planning and small town capacity building to help residents shape the future of their communities. Participants will learn about the Bay Area Greenprint, an innovative, easy-to- use online tool that reveals the multiple benefits of natural and agricultural lands across the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. The tool informs land-use decisions with better data, showing the user the landscape’s overlapping benefits including recreation opportunities, habitat protection, clean and abundant water, food production, flood protection, and resilience to climate change. Participants will then be guided through the Orton Family Foundation’s Community Network Analysis tool that supports locally-driven community engagement and mobilization by helping users examine who to connect with and how. This method goes beyond conventional stakeholder analyses by helping carefully identify population segments that are typically underrepresented in both formal and informal social networks.
Josh Meyer, Community Planning Programs Program Director, Local Government Commission
Liz O’Donohue, Director Infrastructure and Land Use, The Nature Conservancy
Adam Garcia, Planning and Research Manager, Greenbelt Alliance
Alexis Halbert, Senior Associate of Programs, Orton Family Foundation
5 PM
7:30 – 9 PM
7 – 8:30 AM
8:30 AM – 9:45 AM
Continental Ballroom 7-8
CM 1.25
Throughout the Climate Change track, the message has been clear: the status quo must change. We need to implement comprehensive solutions that fulfill a number of community and economic benefits, derive from collaborative processes and provide equitable results. Nowhere is this truer than with funding.
Case in point: Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria will cost property owners, insurance companies and the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars to restore homes, businesses and basic infrastructure in south Texas and Louisiana, Florida and the Caribbean. Meanwhile, the Western U.S. has seen more than 1.5 million acres burn this season, with related damages and burdens on communities and our economy. Climate scientists anticipate extreme rain events, like Harvey or Irma, will become more frequent, and the same is true for other extremes such as drought, wildfire and coastal erosion.
Would an ounce of prevention have saved a pound of grief and loss of property in south Texas? Would an extra ounce of coordinated mitigation have enabled people to build back stronger? Should we be thinking about how we respond to climate change in holistic terms that benefit everyone in our communities? We think so.
Despite the pressing urgency made so dramatically visible this fall, climate funding, resources and tools lag far behind the needs communities are facing. In fact, the federal government is pulling back on key areas, including the national flood-insurance program.
Too often when approaching the climate finance conversation, we get stuck on who will pay for the response, but we often leave out a full consideration of who will pay if we don’t respond. In most cases, those who will “pay” for these impacts are the poorest and most vulnerable among us. The billions of dollars in damage, the long-term displacement and the uncertain recovery from Harvey and Irma are just the most recent examples of the problems with our current approach.
Join municipal-finance experts who will outline the landscape of mitigation and adaptation financing, discuss the equity dimensions of climate funding, and describe some tools for more comprehensively integrating finance into existing processes to improve how we respond to climate change, prepare for extreme-weather events, and use our investments to build more just and prosperous communities.
Jonathan Parfrey, Executive Director, Climate Resolve
Josh Brock, CCA Manager, CalPine Solutions
Joyce Coffee, President, Climate Resilience Consulting
Shalini Vajjhala, Founder and CEO, ReFocus Partners
Jennie Orenstein, Grants Policy Branch, Hazard Mitigation Division, FEMA
Golden Gate Room 2-3
CM 1.25
Funding is consistently ranked as one of the top barriers to creating affordable housing, especially for infill development that might require infrastructure upgrades. This session will feature a variety of funding models to implement projects that respond to opportunities and challenges highlighted by previous speakers.
Our experts will cover a wide spectrum of funding options, including running successful ballot measures and financial partnerships among local governments, banks, and for-profit and nonprofit developers.
Participants will leave with a better understanding of successful approaches to funding various housing types in their community.
Libby Seifel, President, Seifel Consulting, Inc.
Amie Fishman, Executive Director, Non Profit Housing Association of Northern California
Julijs Liepins, Vice President, Forsyth Street
Brian Prater, Executive Vice President, Low Income Investment Fund
Continental Ballroom 1
CM 1.25
Throughout the track, participants have discussed the many disruptions to our old way of managing water, and new strategies for responding to that disruption. Now, let’s talk about how to pay for it. Traditional financial options (such as water rates and municipal bonds) fall short of addressing our current and future water needs. New, innovative financing options are spurring communities to invest in creative strategies – like distributed green infrastructure – to ensure their resilience against disruption. This session will propose four specific financing mechanisms for integrated water solutions: impact investing, debt funding, state revolving fund, and environmental finance centers. Panelists will discuss applicable project types, best practices, and existing barriers to each. Participants will then have the opportunity to select one of the four strategies to explore deeper in small group setting.
Cynthia Koehler, Co-founder and Executive Director, WaterNow
Elisa Speranza, Senior Advisor, Encourage Capital
Alisa Valderrama, Senior Policy Analyst, NRDC
Ed Harrington, Board Member, Greenpeace International
David Zimmer, Executive Director, NJ Environmental Infrastructure Trust
Golden Gate Room 4-5
CM 1.25
Hospitals and other agencies concerned about residents’ health are taking to heart the message that where you live has a greater impact on your health than your genetic code with new initiatives to fund affordable housing. This session will explore the way health organizations in different parts of the country are finding ways to support rehabilitation and construction of healthy and affordable housing. Hear from experts changing the health systems that fund coverage including Kaiser, physicians working to go beyond the clinic, and new models of financing like the Health Equity Fund in Massachusetts.
Elizabeth Baca, Senior Health Advisor, CA Governor’s Office of Planning and Research
John Vu, Vice President Community Health Strategy, Kaiser Permanente
Maggie Super Church, Marketing Manager, Independent Consultant
Megan Sandel, Associate Director, GROW clinic, Boston Medical Center
Bechara Choucair, MD, SVP and Chief Community Health Officer, Kaiser Permanente
Golden Gate Room 6-7
CM 1.25
Funding is consistently ranked as one of the top barriers to expanding transportation options. This session will feature financing models to implement projects that respond to opportunities and challenges highlighted in the earlier Financing sessions.
Our experts will discuss several value-capture options, ranging from transportation impact fees to curbside pricing and other user fees to increase funding for transportation and address potential declines in parking and ticket revenues anticipated with self-driving vehicles.
William Bacon, Policy and Financial Analyst, Metropolitan Transportation Commission & Association of Bay Area Governments
Viktoriya WIse, Chief of Staff for Sustainable Streets, SFMTA
Roger Dickinson, Executive Director, Transportation California
Dena Belzer, resident and Founder, Strategic Economics
Continental Ballroom 2-3
CM 1.25
When considering how we as a nation approach equitable, sustainable places, funding and distribution of resources is a key bottom-line driver of constructive, responsive solutions. Over the decades government, philanthropy and the private sector have expended significant dollars to enable more equitable distribution of assets to communities and their citizens. Have these investments been effective or has the funding only deepened disparities?
Join this panel to explore cases of systemic funding interventions – government economic development incentives, wealth building strategies and private-sector neighborhood redevelopment – their bounty, impact and direction. Following introductory remarks, panelists will lead interactive conversations about the benefit of these interventions, important lessons over multiple decades, and ideas for making them better moving forward.
Julie Seward, Principal, Julia Seward Consulting
Greg Leroy, Executive Director, Good Jobs First
Shawn Escoffrey, Program Director Strong Local Economies, Surdna Foundation
Donald Manekin, Co-Founder, Seawall Development
Plaza A
CM 1.25
Smart growth and transit-oriented development (TOD) require strong partnerships, collaboration, and engaged stakeholders. They also require significant resources for visions to become reality. Over ten years after it first convened ten non-profit advisors to identify and advance pressing local and regional issues, The Great Communities Collaborative, continues to be an innovative example for the nation of a partnership of regional policy leaders, community groups, businesses, local and regional government agencies, and funders. Since its launch, 14 funders have pooled over $12 million to support over 30 non-profit organizations in shaping local and regional land use and transportation policy and investments.
This session will outline the various financial tools developed throughout the last decade as part of the greater Plan Bay Area effort, and provide context of how they are relevant in present day. We’ll hear about how these tools are being utilized on the ground, and how they are financing equitable transit oriented development throughout the broader region, layering together local and regional resources to create strategies for both transportation and housing. The session will have some brief presentation and consist of discussion between panelists and audience.
Jeremy Madsen, Chief Executive Officer, Greenbelt Alliance
Alix Bockelman, Deputy Executive Director, Policy, Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Elizabeth Wampler, Initiative Officer with the Great Communities Collaborative, The San Francisco Foundation
Continental Ballroom 9
CM 1.25
Looking to implement broadband, reinvigorate main street, grow a local food system or start a green energy business? This session will focus on funding and financing strategies and tools to build infrastructure, capacity and access to capital in small towns and rural communities. Join this panel to explore creative uses of traditional funding sources and new and emerging sources of investment to bring projects to fruition.
Meg Arnold, Managing Director, Valley Vision
Serena Unger, Policy and Planning Associate, American Farmland Trust
Kristin York, Vice President of Business Innovation, Sierra Business Council
Carol Pranka, Director, Community Economic Development, USDA Rural Development West
9:45 – 10 AM
10 – 11:30 AM
Continental Ballroom 7-8
CM 1.5
This workshop will explore how community-driven planning processes create stronger, more climate-resilient communities and will provide participants with practical solutions to bring back to their community. To successfully design climate policies and solutions, we need to understand the experience of those most impacted by extreme weather, economic inequality and other community stressors, and also engage in processes and practices where these same people have the power to lead the path forward.
The workshop will share a framework on how to: (1) build partnerships between the community, government and the private sector; (2) develop community leadership over the planning process; and (3) advance a unified vision and approach to creating local resilience to climate change. The session will present community-driven strategies as a way to achieve true community preparedness and sustainability, while also combating displacement from the impacts of climate change or from the process of urban redevelopment itself.
We will then explore this framework in a real-world example, drawing on the experience of Washington, DC’s effort to more authentically collaborate on climate planning with residents. Participants will have the opportunity to hear from those involved in this process and problem-solve how to implement this model most effectively.
Melissa Deas, Institute Associate, Georgetown Climate Center
Parin Shah, Senior Strategist, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)
Everette Bradford, Program Analyst, DC Department of Energy and Environment
Aurash Khawarzad, Director of Policy and Strategy, Race Forward
Victoria Benson, Program Manager, Movement Strategy Center Action Fund
Continental Ballroom 7-8
CM 1.5
As we’ve heard throughout the New Partners conference, climate change is becoming more central to communities. Strong local mitigation policies and programs are important to our collective ability to meet desired greenhouse gas reduction goals. A robust adaptation response is similarly vital to the protection of our communities. At the same time, financing climate-change responses can be overwhelming. In such a context, it is important to fully integrate climate initiatives into the fabric of local-government activities. From comprehensive planning to budgeting, climate change is just another priority that is competing for limited available staff and resources. Leveraging existing funding and integrating climate issues into the overall budget may be the only way to fully coordinate a response at the local level.
This workshop will review opportunities that participants can leverage to mainstream climate work across an agency and its various existing planning, programs and engagement activities. From looking at the “capability maturity” of local governments to respond to adaptation to opportunities that coordinate climate risks into comprehensive planning, speakers will share early stage tools that link to deeper analysis that can be taken on afterwards to find mainstreaming opportunities across your agency.
Kif Scheuer, Climate Change Program Director, Local Government Commission
Kristin Baja, Climate Resilience Officer, Urban Sustainability Directors Network
Imperial A
CM 1.5
Drawing on the roadmap worksheet provided to attendees at the start of the New Partners conference, this workshop provides an opportunity to reflect on key lessons learned over the course of the conference and apply those lessons to a concrete strategy for action.
Working collaboratively, participants will identify and organize lessons learned, strategies and potential new resources. These elements will then be structured into a high-level roadmap for two to three current projects or activities that participants want to advance. Throughout the workshop, you will hear what your peers learned during the conference, what strategies they are excited to implement, and how they might apply these resources in their own work. Taken as a whole, we will build a shared commitment to action through collective solution-generation and action-planning.
Beth Gibbons, Executive Director, American Society of Adaptation Professionals
Yoon Hui Kim, Ph.D., Director of Advisory Services, 427 Climate Solutions
Imperial A
CM 1.5
Are you and your team overwhelmed trying to keep up with the increasing requirements placed on government to be transparent about the status of your projects and programs, comply with open data policies, and stay active on social media to maintain engagement with the community all while trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create a more resilient community?
In this workshop, you will learn an easy to follow framework and free tools that your team can utilize immediately using data you are probably already collecting to address these challenges.
Kim Lundgren will compare and contrast the experience of two different local governments that used the same storytelling framework and online communication platform to tell their story and engage their residents to become part of the solution to take action on climate change and create a more sustainable future. Participants will work in small groups to apply the framework to some of their own climate communication and engagement challenges.
Kim Lundgren, Founder and CEO, Kim Lundgren Associates, Inc.
Crystal Najera, Climate Action Plan Program Administrator, City of Encinitas
Imperial A
CM 1.5
Developing transparent, collaborative, multi-sector, cross-jurisdictional adaptation-planning methods is hard work. Who should be at the table? What is the ideal scope for coverage and impact? What are the vulnerabilities and consequences of climate impacts to a wide variety of assets?
Over the past seven years, an interagency team from the San Francisco Bay Area has developed a road-tested, outcome-oriented adaptation planning process for rising sea levels – the Adapting to Rising Tides (ART) Program. This workshop address the specific challenges of building resilience across different sectors, jurisdictions and asset owners to develop adaptation responses that achieve multiple benefits. The ART process has been applied successfully in the Bay Area region due to its collaborative design, transparency and focus on sustainability.
In this workshop, you will explore how the ART approach can be applied to planning processes for any climate change impact, such as fire, drought and heat. Participants will work in small groups to apply the framework to some of their own climate-adaptation planning work, and leave with a collection of ready-to-use tools, stakeholder engagement exercises and process guides.
Carey Batha, Senior Environmental Scientist, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission
Heather Dennis, Research Analyst, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission
Golden Gate Room 2-3
CM 1.5
Level
Housing policy has a long history of racially charged decision making. This workshop will focus on housing and racial equity, guiding participants through a process to identify housing strategies and policies that support racial equity in their community using the Government Alliance for Race and Equity’s Racial Equity Toolkit. Participants will: define a housing policy or program and desired outcomes; consider available data to inform the initiative; discuss community engagement strategies; assess who will benefit from or be burdened by the proposal and strategies for advancing racial equity or mitigating unintended consequences; develop an initial implementation plan; and discuss steps to ensure accountability.
Nora Liu, Project Manager, Government Alliance on Race and Equity/Center for Social Inclusion
Golden Gate Room 2-3
CM 1.5
Housing advocates have long recognized that building more parking than tenants use has made affordable housing too expensive to build. Parking can increase the cost of projects in existing developed areas by 10% to 20%. Those costs are passed on to tenants (on top of any monthly per-space fee the landlord charges) – padding rent by an average of $225 a month nationwide – even those who don’t own cars. Including one parking space per dwelling unit raises the cost of each apartment by approximately 12.5%, while a second parking space doubles that to 25%. In this workshop, participants will consider parking requirements that can deter affordable-housing development and strategies to revise parking to better address mobility and housing needs. Participants will leave the conference with tangible local strategies that can be implemented to increase housing options in their community.
Patrick Siegman, Principal, NelsonNygaard
Golden Gate Room 1
CM 1.5
Affordable housing projects, particularly in smart growth/infill areas, can create polarizing debates among developers, environmental groups and community members— raising important questions about quality of life, community fabric, increased amenities, traffic and air quality impacts. These important neighborhood concerns must be considered in the context of larger regional needs to provide a range of affordable housing options. The threat of community opposition compounds existing barriers as smaller parcel sizes, old infrastructure, lack of financing, and a complex building and regulatory environment. This implementation workshop will help participants formulate strategies to activate “the silent majority” to speak out in support of housing and create more YIMBYs (Yes In My Back Yard). Participants will leave the conference with tangible local strategies that can be implemented to engage community members in support of increase housing options.
Please note, this session fall into two tracks: “Planning and Designing Smart Growth Communities” and “Creating Housing for Everyone”.
Evelyn Stivers, Executive Director, Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County
Continental Ballroom 1
CM 1.5
By now you’re convinced that cross-sector and inter-agency collaboration is critical to effective planning for our uncertain future. But breaking down barriers between sectors, agencies, even departments is challenging! In this implementation workshop, our expert trainer will teach you how to foster collaboration and initiate participatory planning in your community. You will learn core principles to effective collaboration, how to avoid common collaboration pitfalls, and develop a step-by-step process to initiate collaboration in your projects.
Odin Zackman, Founder, Dig In
Continental Ballroom 1
CM 1.5
Access to clean, affordable, and abundant drinking water has been recognized as a human right but it is far from universally achieved. This is particularly true in communities that are disadvantaged by a lack of municipal governments, poverty, and historical racial/ ethnic segregation and discrimination. Policy and advocacy efforts in California, including the passage of the state’s Human Right to Water and an array of legislation to mandate the consolidation of public water systems serving Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities (DUCs) represent important advances in this agenda. New research by the UC Davis Center for Regional Change and public agency efforts by the California EPA and the State Water Quality Control Board have developed new data tools to analyze, visualize, and address water injustice in California DUCs. These visualization efforts are crucial as DUCs tend to be literally “off the map” and therefore lack attention and investment from public agencies. These tools have been developed in close consultation with environmental and water justice advocates and are being used to inform their policy strategies.
This workshop will involve leaders in water justice advocacy and research sharing insights to help participants identify steps they can take to promote water justice in their communities.
Jonathan London, Faculty Director, UC Davis Center for Regional Change
Golden Gate Room 4-5
CM 1.5
Over the last ten years, there has been significant discussion about health professionals working with land-use planners. However, not as much has been done about figuring out ways to work with staff in other departments such as public works, transportation, water resources and parks that play a key role in how communities are planned, built and maintained. This workshop will discuss how to engage staff in other departments and build lasting partnerships
Miguel Vazquez, Healthy Communities Urban Regional Planner, Riverside County
Michael Osur, Assistant Director, Chief Health Strategist, County of Riverside
Golden Gate Room 4-5
CM 1.5
Public health professionals are acutely aware that the housing crisis – homelessness, lack of affordable housing and displacement – all contribute to deteriorating health. This session will explore ways in which you can play a proactive role in identifying and implementing solutions to the housing crisis in your community ranging from identifying financing mechanisms to helping provide wrap-around services.
Kathy Sykes, Senior Advisor for Aging and Public Health, U.S. EPA, Office of Research and Development (retired)
Libby Seifel, Principal, Seifel and Associates
Dee Merriam, Community Planner, CDC
Golden Gate Room 8
CM 1.5
Public health departments must increasingly deal with the impacts of climate change, as seen in community responses to extreme weather events in recent years. As these impacts are felt more widely across the nation, we will examine what steps you can take to make sure that your public health department is addressing the need to build climate mitigation, resilience and adaptation into planning and development practices in your community.
Elizabeth Baca, Senior Health Advisor, California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research
Golden Gate Room 6-7
CM 1.5
In this implementation workshop, participants will work together to develop a set of placemaking strategies they can use to implement transportation projects in their community. Placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community. Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share, Placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm— including our streets— in order to maximize shared value. More than just promoting better urban design, Placemaking facilitates creative patterns of use, paying particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution. Following Project for Public Spaces Placemaking approach participants will learn how to: integrate diverse opinions into a cohesive vision; translate that vision into a plan and program of uses; and ensure the sustainable implementation of the plan. Turning a shared vision into a reality–into a truly great place–means finding the patience to take small steps, to truly listen, and to see what works best in a particular context.
Gary Toth, Senior Director, Transportation Initiatives, Project for Public Spaces
Golden Gate Room 6-7
CM 1.5
Community-led demonstration projects enable residents and other stakeholders to participate in relatively inexpensive temporary transformations to test and experience potential changes in their city environment. Sometimes referred to as “tactical urbanism” or “lighter, quicker, cheaper” these short-term, low-cost and scalable interventions can catalyze long-term change. The process builds productive connections, creates sustained civic involvement, and helps citizens to take control of the places where they live, work and play. Temporary projects can help spark citizen imagination and innovation, while enabling officials to evaluate success before making more expensive, permanent changes. This implementation workshop will walk you through a process to set up tactical-urbanism projects. You will leave this workshop with tangible strategies to implement local projects that increase safe, accessible and convenient transportation options in your community.
Community-led demonstration projects enable residents and other stakeholders to participate in relatively inexpensive temporary transformations to test and experience potential changes in their city environment. Sometimes referred to as “tactical urbanism” or simply “pilot projects,” there is a growing number of examples across the nation. Sample projects include: Converting street edges to provide enhanced bikeways. Turning on-street parking spaces into outdoor seating areas (“parklets”). Adding chairs and other street furniture on sidewalks or in parking spaces. Converting vacant lots to community gardens and play lots. Sprucing up blank walls and empty spaces with public art and colorful murals. These experiments are often installed with local donated or recycled materials and volunteer labor. Ideas are tested out using chalk guns, temporary paint, movable planters and homemade chairs and benches. The process builds productive connections, creates sustained civic involvement, and helps citizens to take control of the places where they live, work and play. These physical projects create enriching opportunities for people to meet and share with their neighbors. Temporary projects can help local officials, residents and business owners envision a new future for their civic spaces. City officials can use temporary zoning and provide technical guidance to ensure adequate safety and operations, allowing community members to “break the rules” to explore permanent regulatory changes. These grace periods help spark citizen imagination and innovation, while enabling officials to evaluate the success of practices before making more expensive, permanent changes.
Mike Lydon, Principal, Street Plans
Continental Ballroom 2-3
CM 1.5
This implementation workshop will provide actionable tools and strategies for maximizing equitable and inclusive economic development for on-the-ground practitioners. Participants will learn how to maximize economic, environmental and community impact from proactive and reactive development activities through which communities need to both reduce negative impacts and increase potential opportunities. In this workshop, two representatives from the Delta Institute will guide participants through group activities oriented around specific steps they can take to ensure that the project’s planning and implementation efforts in their communities are inclusive, drawing specific examples from the institute’s multi-year efforts in partnership with the City of Gary to leverage vacant structures for local economic activity.
Eve Pytel, Director, Delta Institute
Bill Scheizer, CEO, Delta Institute
Continental Ballroom 2-3
CM 1.5
The urban-planning profession has always had a complicated relationship to race in America. While most planners believe in the concept and value of racial equity, our actions and policies have often resulted in explicit or unintentional segregation and unequal neighborhood conditions and services. Many comprehensive plans now include racial and social equity as a vision and goal, but there has been little guidance on how to operationalize these values. To address the root causes of inequity, it is essential for government organizations to reimagine and reconfigure how they do business. The emerging innovative practice of reorganizing government institutions to create more equitable outcomes is called “Governing for Racial Equity.” Beth Altshuler will share strategies and examples incorporating racial-equity considerations into each step of the planning process (community engagement and what it means to share power), data analysis to highlight local and regional inequities and track progress, specifically writing policies that lead to more equitable outcomes and planning/organizational procedures to operationalize equity.
Beth Altshuler, Senior Associate, Raimi + Associates
Vikrant Sood, Senior Social Equity Planner, Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Megan Hunter, Community Development Director, City of Salinas
Monica Gurmilan, Land Use Organizer, Building Healthy Communities – East Salinas
Plaza A
CM 1.5
The term “equity” is getting a lot of attention these days but what does it really mean when development and redevelopment forces are at work. This session will look at how to create an Equitable Development Plan for an area experiencing rapid growth and displacement. Learn about tools that your community might be able to use to get developers to build affordable housing and incorporate community benefits into projects.
Ken Snyder, Founder and CEO, PlaceMatters
Richard Lukas, Director of Federal Grants and Program Development, The Trust for Public Land
Plaza A
CM 1.5
Form-based codes have been around for more than 15 years, and yet many local government planners and policymakers still don’t fully understand what they are, how they work, and why they are a much better tool for regulating land use and development than conventional zoning codes. Join in a discussion on how to communicate the benefits and get buy-in for adoption of form-based codes.
Howard Blackson, Urban Design and Planning Director, AVRP Skyport (San Diego)
Stefan Pellegrini, Principal, Opticos Design
Lisa Wise, President, Lisa Wise Consulting
Plaza B
CM 1.5
The suburbs have been undergoing significant demographic and physical changes in recent decades. There has also been a growing effort to create more of a “there” in the suburbs through placemaking interventions. This workshop will discuss steps cities and counties can take to begin to retrofit their suburbs.
Matt Lambert, Partner, Duany Plater-Zyberk
Allison Joe, Chief of Staff, Office of Councilmember Jay Schenirer, City of Sacramento
Plaza B
CM 1.5
Placemaking is often mentioned as a critical part of creating new communities or revitalizing existing ones, and yet not many planners or policymakers have a clear understanding of how to go about doing that. This session, led by an author of the book on the subject, will explore how communities can create great places through low-cost, incremental steps that are based on engaging local residents and building on local values, history, culture and environment. And what are the ways in which placemaking can be linked to larger goals such as jobs and equity.
Al Zelinka, Assistant City Manager, City of Riverside
Susan Jackson Harden, Senior Vice President, National Planning and Architecture Practice Lead, Michael Baker International (invited)
Continental Ballroom 9
CM 1.5
This workshop will introduce participants to the wealth-creation approach that focuses on helping small-town and rural communities to connect existing and underutilized assets to market demand through value chains. This approach is meant to bring low-income people, families and businesses into value chains in a variety of ways such as producers and consumers of goods and employees. This approach has been used in a variety of rural areas and different sectors with great success – some of these examples will be shared in the workshop.
Creating economic opportunities in rural areas and connecting rural areas to urban areas in a more regional strategy is a real focus of rural development work. Following an overview of this approach, participants will assess strengths and assets their community has to work with, including physical infrastructure, social capital, skills and know-how, and more. They will consider possible sectors that might make sense to build a value chain around. Finally, they will begin to map a possible value chain and think about gaps and barriers to having a functioning chain. Another lesson of this approach will be using value propositions to engage new partners in ways that benefit everyone.
Melissa Levy, Principal and Owner, Community Roots, LLC (Vermont)
11:35 AM – 12:30 PM
Continental Ballroom 4-6
PDH/HSW: 1.0; CM: 1.0
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.
Jake Mackenzie, Mayor, City of Rohnert Park
Gregory Hughes, Speaker, Utah House of Representatives
Karen Freeman-Wilson, Mayor, City of Gary, Indiana
12:30 PM
1:30 – 6:30 PM