Special Event: Leadership Through Landscape

Leadership Through Landscape
Exploring the Power of Place and
Its Influence on Public Leadership and Sustainability Policy

June 6, 2013 ~ 6:00 PM

Artisphere ~ 1101 Wilson Boulevard ~ Arlington VA 22209

Join the Virginia Tech’s Metropolitan Institute (MI) and the Arlington Economic Development (AED) in welcoming back Sir Robert Harvey to Arlington, VA. Introduction from the Right Honorable Michael Moore, New Zealand Ambassador to the United States.

For the past 25 years Bob Harvey (still known affectionately as Mayor Bob) has infused the diverse dimensions of sustainability throughout his work as an elected official, international peace envoy, President of the New Zealand Labour Party, businessman, and most recently Chairman of the Auckland waterfront authority. A charismatic speaker and visionary thinker, Harvey came to sustainability through his strong personal and professional bond with the amazing landscape of Auckland’s west region. As a young leader of a local surf club at Karekare Beach, Harvey’s respect and reverence for Waitakere’s rugged coastline and temperate rainforest set the foundation for one of his first political activities — advocating for national legislation that permanently protects the Waitakere Rainforest and Ranges from encroaching suburban development. For Mayor Bob, Leadership through Landscape does not end with acts of conservation and preservation, but becomes a starting point for a dialogue with nature, understanding the landscape, listening to the landscape, and learning from the landscape in ways that reflect the values of New Zealand’s indigenous Maori culture. Building on these themes, Mayor Bob will offer his insights and observations on how sustainability leaders in the US can leverage their own landscapes to support their work in making sustainable communities.

MI and AED welcomes the Right Honorable Michael Moore, New Zealand Ambassador to the US, for introducing Mayor Bob; and commentators, Jay Fisette, Vice Chair, Arlington County Board and Susannah Drake, ASLA, AIA, Principal, delandstudio, New York City.

 The Full Flier is available here.  Please RSVP by June 4th.

To know more about the course syllabus and format, please visit the course online.

Derek Hyra, Associate Professor, Urban Affairs and Planning

According to a recent article, “Redevelopment Looms in West Alexandria” published in the Washington Post, the Alexandria City Council is scheduled to take a final major vote to rezone the West Alexandria, Va., area and allow a significant redevelopment project to move forward. There are plans to demolish over 2,475 modest low-rise apartments in order to build 5,000 housing units as well as stores and offices. According to Derek Hyra, Associate Professor, Urban Affairs and Planning and author of The New Urban Renewal, “This is one of the largest inner suburban redevelopments in the United States. The inner suburb is the new frontier for upgrading and gentrification.”

Click here to read more.

Coffee and light breakfast fare will fuel the brainstorming!

This is an excellent opportunity to hear directly from policymakers and practitioners on their research ideas and needs.

Click here to RSVP.

The poster  presented, “Pursuing Adaptive Resilience: Building Institutional Capacity, Designing a Cohesive Policy Framework and Reclaiming Vacant Properties in Cleveland” sets forth a resilient policy system for reclaiming vacant properties.

The work draws on Schilling’s ten years of participatory research in part through the National Vacant Property Campaign.

Please see the FRB handout for more information.

Jessica Hanff will be presenting with Jason Hercules of the US Green Building Council on “Using LEED for Neighborhood Development to Create a Sustainable Campus.” Jessica worked for many years on campus sustainability issues while a program coordinator with the National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology program and is a researcher on campus planning practices. LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) integrates the principles of smart growth, new urbanism and green building into the first national rating system for neighborhood planning and design. This session will serve as a primer for how to use LEED-ND as a tool for sustainable campus development, including requirements and focus areas of the program, and an in-depth look at successful projects.

Provided as part of VT’s Center for Public Administration and Policy’s Homeland
Security & Prevention and Homeland Security Certificate program

All event times are 7pm-8:15pm.
Room 304, SPIA, Virginia Tech, 1021 Prince Street, Alexandria
Thomas Conner House Upstairs Conf Room, Blacksburg (by polycom)

RSVP to: Patrick Roberts

April 3 Local Leadership in a Collaborative Environment
April 10 Local Leadership in a Collaborative Environment II
April 17 Disasters and Emergency Management from a Law and
Society Perspective
April 24 Budgeting for Disaster

See flyer for more information.

“Urban Absorption in a Shrinking City: A close examination of depopulation, land use change, and city planning”, A Lecture by Justin Hollander, Thursday, April 11, 2013

In the face of substantial economic decline over the last eight decades, New Bedford (Massachusetts) has changed in many ways.  The most astounding way is how the physical form of the city has shifted in the wake of population loss: factories have been converted to apartment buildings, vacant lots turned into gardens. How has the physical DNA of the city been recoded, who led this process, what worked and what did not?  Through detailed analyses of the history, politics, environment, and planning strategies of the city, Dr. Hollander is writing a book to answer these very questions.  In this presentation, he offers early findings from his research.

Justin Hollander, PhD, AICP, is an Assistant Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University and a Research Scientist at the George Perkins Marsh Institute at Clark University.  He is the author of Sunburnt Cities: The Great Recession, Depopulation and Urban Planning in the American Sunbelt (Routledge, 2011) and two other books examining the challenges of planning for post-industrial, shrinking cities.

Host:  Professor Joe Schilling, Director, MI+SPIA, Virginia Tech

Facilitator:  Professor Maggie Cowell, Urban Affairs and Planning, Virginia Tech

Respondents:  Professors Sherry Lee Linkon and John Russo

Thursday, April 11^th

6:30 to 7:30 pm (presentation); 7:30-8:30 (discussion)

Virginia Tech Research Center

900 N. Glebe Road

Ballston Room

Arlington, VA

RSVP by 4/11/13

6:00 – 6:30 PM Q&A Session for potential Urban Affairs and Planning (UAP) graduate students

Light refreshments will be served

See flyer to more information.

Hope to see you there!

To delve into how good planning equates to safe, accessible, enjoyable cycling, Virginia Tech professor and Metropolitan Institute Faculty Fellow Ralph Buehler will present at the Montgomery County Planning Department’s speaker series on Tuesday, April 9. His talk, Making Cycling Irresistible: Lessons from Europe and North America, will link transportation and land-use policies with bike use.

Continuing education credits (1.5 hours) have been approved for planning professionals.

Who: Ralph Buehler, Assistant Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning, Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech
What: Making Cycling Irresistible: Lessons from Europe and North America
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 9
Where:
Park and Planning Headquarters auditorium
8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring
Learn more:
www.montgomeryplanning.org/department/speaker_series