Livable Communities: Walking, Working, Water-Connecting Urban and Environmental Issues with Design Opportunities

September 14-17, 2006

Seattle Marriott Waterfront/Bell Harbor Conference Center
Seattle, Washington

Healthy, sustainable, livable, and economically sound communities are the goal of all Americans. Architects and urban designers, in collaboration with professionals in allied disciplines, must advocate for reform in our environmental and urban policies at all levels to ensure that our development patterns will provide for a more sustainable, livable future.

The Livable Communities conference will provide a unique opportunity for planners, politicians, architects, landscape architects, developers, and urban designers to discuss the rapid changes occurring within the American scene—burgeoning boomers, skyrocketing energy costs, changing demographics, environmental calamities, and economic disruptions—and how regional urbanism can contribute to a rebalancing of our consumptive practices and reconnect our urban fabric with each metropolitan area’s unique cultural, environmental, and economic character.

This conference offers welcoming events hosted by AIA Seattle on Thursday, September 14. Friday through Sunday activities feature:

· Citistates Chairman Neal Peirce providing a national perspective on sustainability of our urban regions

· Key political leaders discussing public policy and regional growth

· Participants examining region-to-city-to-neighborhood issues in a series of breakout sessions

· Four “Future Visions” panels (“City as Waterfront,” “City Reconstructed—A new vision for the Gulf,” “Density and Rapid Growth,” and “Resettling the Rust Belt”) outlining key strategies for guiding future growth

· Participants taking part in tours and mobile workshops of Seattle’s most notable, places

· Participants can earn up to 14.5 AIA/CES learning units, including HSW credits

Please visit www.aia.org/livablecommunities for conference details and registration or call (202)-626-7557.