Planning Pool

Planning Pool presented at the Northern Voice 2010: Personal Blogging and Social Media Conference today about some of the successes that we’ve have on this blog! Here is a link to a page that describes our panel session.

We got some great feedback from audience members who read us (Thanks for reading us and giving us great feedback!!):

• Be Bold! Convey ideas about really important planning issues and take a more controversial point of view. Channel that inner James Howard Kunstler!
• Be Forward Thinking! Explain some of the urgent issues that we’re going to face in the coming years and how we should approach them.
• Use More Multimedia! Show people what good urbanism looks like, so they can get excited about creating a community that is more urban.

What do you think? More videos or photo slideshows? … Continue Reading

MORE INFO HERE

Thanks to Martin Heigan on Flickr for this beautiful Creative Commons photo.

For the past three months, I have had the pleasure of participating in a series of discussions led by Dr. Bill Rees on the subject of the Post-Carbon City. It has been invigorating and exciting to imagine how we will transition out of our fossil fuel dependence. A key theme to these discussions has been: “What will the new economy look like when constrained by the social and ecological limits of our world?”

In a few weeks, this question (and many more) will be explored in greater detail when Vancouver hosts North America’s first ever De-Growth Conference from April 29 to May 2, 2010.

Speakers include: Vanessa Timmer, Peter Victor, Rex … Continue Reading

This year’s conference is in Minneapolis and the member-rates give a lot of bang for the buck, especially if you volunteer (students only).  There’s even a chance to go to a Twins game…  Check out the website to learn more about this plan-a-thon, because it is surely more informative than I.

The Canadian Institute of Planners / OPPI is hosting its annual conference in Niagara Falls, Ontario, from September 30 to October 3. The conference, entitled “Building a Better World,” will focus on the environment, the economy, culture, and society with the purpose of debating and challenging ourselves and our profession. For more information, please see: http://www.niagarafalls2009.ca/english/index.htm.

The Planning Institute of British Columbia (PIBC) is hosting its annual conference in Whistler, BC, this year from May 20 to 22.

The following speakers have been confirmed:

• Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. - leading global environmental activist and lawyer.
• Sherry Kafka Wagner - urban design and public space development consultant.
• Thomas Berger - lawyer and former British Columbia Supreme Court Justice
• Dr. Richard Hebda - Curator of Botany & Earth History, Royal BC Museum

The conference is held in partnership with the following associations:

• BC Association Appraisal Institute of Canada
• BC Institute of Agrologists
• BC Society of Landscape Architects
• Land Trust Alliance of BC
• Planning Institute of BC
• Real Estate Institute of BC

For more information, please visit: http://www.bclandsummit.com/