For Immediate Release
Sept. 30, 1999
Contacts:
Trish Brink (860) 439-2508
Randall P. Lucas (860) 439-2874
[email protected]
Future of Urban Planning & Ecology in America's Cities Focus of National Summit Slated for Oct. 21-22 at Connecticut College
NEW LONDON, Conn.-- The future of development in our nation's cities will be the focus of a national summit cosponsored by United Nations (Habitat) to be keynoted by renowned architect and urban planner Robert Geddes. "Urban Environments in the Next Millennium: Economy, Ecology & Equity" will feature architects, urban planners and other nationally renowned experts in urban planning October 21 and 22 at Connecticut College, 270 Mohegan Ave., in New London.
"By the year 2000, half of the world's population will live and work in cities. Cities will also face issues such as environmental degradation, overpopulation and social inequity," said Randall P. Lucas, director of Inherit the Earth, a program of the Goodwin-Niering Center for Conservation Biology and Environmental Studies at Connecticut College. "This conference will focus on how development of our cities can succeed while being environmentally and socially responsible. No one sector of society should benefit from a city's development. These holistic approaches to urban development, environmental architecture and building techniques will be highlighted."
Geddes was dean of the School of Architecture at Princeton University for 17 years. In 1990 he became the Luce professor of architecture, urbanism and history at New York University, and a fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities at New York University. He received the American Institute of Architects/ACSA Education Medal and the AIA Professional Firm Award for excellence in design. His works include Liberty State Park, The Center City Plan of Philadelphia and the Manhattan Crosstown concept for the Regional Plan Association. Geddes is editor of Cities in Our Future, a book based on a conference he chaired in 1996 -- the United Nations North American Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat), in New York City.
Others slated to speak include Charles J. Kibert, director of the Center for Construction and Environment at the University of Florida; Terrell M. Emmons, chief architect and associate director for engineering at the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Headquarters; Gwendolen Noyes, a partner in Oaktree Green Development and winner of the Connecticut College Inherit the Earth Award; William Reed, executive director of Global Environmental Options and officer of the U.S. Green Building Council; Muscoe Martin, chairman of the Committee on the Environment of the American Institute of Architects; and Barry Dimson, president and CEO of EcoSmart Healthy Properties LLC, a New York City-based, environmental consulting firm specializing in environmentally responsible and high-tech building techniques.
Proceedings from the summit will be reported to a special United Nations General Assembly meeting on world cities in 2001 and on-line at the website of the Global Environment and Technology Foundation. The summit will also feature an interactive component with questions submitted to the panelists prior to the summit via the GETF website.
Topics for workshops include "The State of our Cities," "Designs for a Sustainable Future," "Environmental Building Techniques" and "The Rebirth of a City: New London." The latter will focus on the college's host city where a major development effort, led by Connecticut College President Claire L. Gaudiani, who is also president of the New London Development Corporation, is currently being implemented. Principals from the NLDC will relay how one inner city -- through public-private partnerships -- is being transformed through a comprehensive downtown development plan designed to benefit all socio-economic levels.
For information on registration and fees, contact Randall P. Lucas, director, Inherit the Earth at Connecticut College at (860) 439-2874; or e-mail: [email protected]; or visit the Summit website at www.sustainableusa.org/ite
Inherit the Earth (ITE) is an environmental education organization at Connecticut College. It promotes the idea that business can be successful while meeting the needs of environmental sustainability. Since 1993, Inherit the Earth has recognized annually those businesses that are making progress in their industry while benefiting the environment. It is cosponsored by the Goodwin-Niering Center for Conservation Biology & Environmental Studies (CCBES) at the college, which in the 1960s offered one of the world's first undergraduate environmental studies major. The CCBES was lauded in Newsweek's KAPLAN guide to colleges as one of the best environmental studies programs in the United States.
The conference is cosponsored by Connecticut College, The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), EcoSmart Healthy Properties, LLC; the Global Environment and Technology Foundation, and the Connecticut and New York chapters of the American Institute of Architects' Committee on the Enviroment.
For website information, see:
http://www.sustainableusa.org/ite
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