It’s right around the corner, but it’s still not too late to register and attend the biggest smart growth conference of the year. The 8th annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference will be held January 22-24 in Albuquerque, NM, and the last date to register without incurring a late fee is January 9th. The conference encompasses over 100 engaging sessions spanning three full days in the great southwestern city of Albuquerque.
The sessions are always exciting and informative, but you can also experience the Great Southwest through the conference’s optional tours of model projects — from a “Taste of Taos” walking tour of the historic district and its food, art and architecture to a bike tour of infill projects to sustainable housing and transit-oriented development in downtown Albuquerque. There’s a tour of the New Mexico Rail Runner commuter rail, a recently-started, highly successful commuter rail system, and other tours to get you out of the hotel and into the city.
New Partners is always the place to learn what’s happening on the cutting edge of smart growth and people-centric planning. It offers participants the chance to meet other advocates, professionals, and practicioners from across the country who are working hard for a brighter future.
Sign up today at www.newpartners.org
If you are planning on attending New Partners, it will be impossible to attend sessions for three days without bumping into SGA staff or one of our many coalition members speaking or presenting over the three days. And don’t miss SGA president Geoff Anderson closing out the conference Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
You can read full descriptions of the sessions at the New Partners site, but here is a rundown of our staff and coalition members speaking. There may be a few missing, so feel free to let us know in the comments if we miss you. Continue reading to see the full list:
Thursday
Patrick Stoner, Local Government Commission
11:00 a.m. – Cities and Counties Reduce Carbon Footprints Through Renewable Energy And Energy Efficiency
Josh Meyer, Program Manager, Local Government Commission
11:00 a.m. – Preservation and Evolution in Transitioning Small Towns
Clark Anderson, The Sonoran Institute
11:00 am – Water and Land Use 101
Allison Brooks, Managing Director, Reconnecting America
Gretchen Nicholls, Program Officer, Twin Cities LISC
11:00 a.m. Can Affordable Housing Near Transit Be Maintained?
Paul Zykofsky, Local Government Commission
11:00 a.m. Smart Growth 101
Barbara McCann, National Complete Streets Coalition
1:30 p.m. – Can you Complete the Streets?
3:00 p.m. – Complete Streets Ask the Experts
Andre Leroux, Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance
Bridget Jones Ed.D., Cumberland Region Tomorrow
Lavea Brachman, Greater Ohio
1:30 p.m. – Common Ground: Building Smart Growth Coalitions that Work
Allison Brooks, Reconnecting America
1:30 p.m. – Promoting Affordable Housing Near Transit: Improving Program Coordination at the Federal Level
Scott Clark, Program Manager, Local Government Commission
1:30 p.m. – School and Local Government Collaboration: Achieve More Together
Reid Ewing, National Center for Smart Growth, University of Maryland
Geoffrey Anderson, Smart Growth America
3:15 p.m. – Growing Cooler: One Year Later
Kate Rube, Smart Growth America
Ilana Preuss, Transportation for America
Mariia Zimmerman, Reconnecting America
3:15 p.m. Joining the Fight: How Smart Growth Advocates Can Play a Key Role in Federal Transportation and Climate Change Legislation
Julia Ryan, Program Director, LISC Community Safety Initiative
Mona Mangat, Program Officer, LISC Community Safety Initiative
3:15 p.m. – SafeGrowth: Improving Community Health & Safety through the Built Environment
Madeline Fraser Cook, Local Initiatives Support Corporation
3:15 p.m. – Green Jobs: Defining Opportunities in Economic Development for a Sustainable Future
Friday:
David Crossley, Houston Tomorrow
10:15 a.m. – Regional Land Conservation: Saving the Best of the Best
3:00 p.m. – Transit and Urban Form: Responding vs. Shaping in Houston and South Florida
Jennifer Leonard, National Vacant Properties Campaign
10:15 – Vacant Property Strategies for Equitable and Healthy Communities
Tools for TODS: Transportation and Land Use Decision-making for Sustainability
10:15 a.m. – Allison Brooks, Managing Director, Reconnecting America
Kimberly Hodgson, American Planning Association
10:15 a.m. Food Policy Councils—Catalysts for Integrating Food and Land Use Policy
Ford Weber, Virginia LISC
Dan Kildee, Gennesee County, MI
10:15 a.m. – Best Practices: Downsizing Cities to Right Size Sustainable Growth
Paul Zykofsky, Local Government Commission
Jacky Grimshaw, Center for Neighborhood Technology
10:15 a.m. – Working on Smart Growth in Low Income, Ethnically Diverse Communities
Julia Seward, Local Initiatives Support Corporation
Teresa Brice, LISC Phoenix
Joseph Schilling, Virginia Tech and the National Vacant Properties Campaign
10:15 a.m. – The Mortgage Crisis: Struggling Communities, Mounting Foreclosures, and Livable Places
Patrice Frey, National Trust for Historic Preservation
10:15 a.m. – City-Sponsored Energy Districts: Financing Efficiency, Reducing Greenhouse Gases
Sarah Treuhaft, PolicyLink
1:45 p.m. – Building a Sustainable Food System…from the Ground Up
Ilana Preuss, Transportation for America
Camille Manning-Broome, Center for Planning Excellence
1:45 p.m. – Model Ordinances for Local Governments: Zoning Ordinances, Subdivision Regulations, and More
Ed Thompson Jr., American Farmland Trust
Julia Freedgood, American Farmland Trust
1:45 p.m. – No Farms, No Food? Models for Sustainable Food and Farming Systems
Julia Seward, Local Initiatives Support Corporation
Geoffrey Anderson, President and CEO, Smart Growth America
1:45 p.m. – Funding 2008: Newest Perspectives on Smart Growth Funding in a Changing Environment
Thomas Gotschi, PhD, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
1:45 p.m. – The Smart Growth, Bicycle/Pedestrian Connection
Teresa Brice, LISC Phoenix
1:45 p.m. – Making Sustainable Communities Happen: Crafting a Coalition-Drive Community Education/Engagement Campaign
Renee Kuhlman, National Trust for Historic Preservation
3:00 p.m. – Planning Ahead: School Closings, New Schools & Demographic Change
Annetta Jenkins, LISC
Gene Krebs, Greater Ohio
Joseph Schilling, Virginia Tech and NVPC
3:00 p.m. – State Policy Best Practice: Land Use Reform That Transforms Communities
Greg LeRoy, Good Jobs First
3:00 p.m. – Tax Policy for Smart Growth: LVT, TIF, and Other Incentives
Judy Corbett, Local Government Commission
Autumn Bernstein, ClimatePlan
3:00 – Bringing Old and New Partners Together to Reduce VMT and Associated Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Bob Heuer, Greenprint Project Manager, The Trust for Public Land
3:00 p.m. – Latest Applications of GIS Technology to Sustainable Development
Saturday
Barbara McCann, National Complete Streets Coalition
10:00 a.m. Best Practices: So You Want to Take Transportation Choices to Neighborhoods?
Steve Tracy, Senior Research Analyst, Local Government Commission
John Norquist, President and CEO, Congress for the New Urbanism
10:00 a.m. Fire Trucks, Fire Codes, Narrow Streets and the Future
Julia Seward, Local Initiatives Support Corporation
Teresa Brice, LISC Phoenix
Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth
Mariia Zimmerman, Reconnecting America
Barbara McCann, National Complete Streets Coalition
Anne Canby, Surface Transportation Policy Project
10:00 a.m. – Best Practices: So You Want to Take Transportation Choices to Neighborhoods?
Councilmember Elaine Clegg, City of Boise, ID; Idaho Smart Growth
Conan Smith, Executive Director, Michigan Suburbs Alliance
10:00 a.m. – Infill and Redevelopment – Overcoming Challenges and Showcasing Success
Elizabeth “Boo” Thomas, Center for Planning Excellence
10:00 a.m. – Response, Resilience, Revitalization … and New Louisiana
James Schwab, American Planning Association
10:00 a.m. – Integrating Hazard Planning Mitigation into Local Planning
Victor Rubin, PolicyLink
Juliet Ellis, Urban Habitat
1:00 p.m. – The Regional Equity Movement: A Decade of Growth, and Key Opportunities in the Coming Years
Parris Glendening, Smart Growth America
1:00 p.m. – State Leadership on Smart Growth: Cross-agency Collaboration, Intergovernmental Cooperation, and Building Public Support
Brian Brandt, American Farmland Trust
Don Stuart, American Farmland Trust
1:00 p.m. – From Farm to Sea: Agriculture Working for Cleaner Water
Sam Zimbabwe, Reconnecting America
2:45 p.m. – Standards to Link Transit and the Community
Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth
2:45 p.m. – Mobilizing Support: Strategic Communications To Increase Public Participation for Regional Progress
Geoffrey Anderson, President and CEO, Smart Growth America
4:10 p.m. – Closing Plenary — The Smart Growth Legislation Tipping Point