Keynotes
A bold vision, a fresh look. Keynote addresses shake you out of the workaday routine. Kick off the conference with a champion of planning in Congress; end it with a look at a seminal planning book. In between get new perspectives on practice and world planning.Opening Keynote
U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer
Congress and a New National Plan for Infrastructure
Monday, 8:30–10:15 a.m.
Former APA Legislator of the Year and member of the House Ways and Means Committee Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) will discuss his efforts to focus congressional attention on the nation's infrastructure issues.
He has advanced measures to fund water infrastructure and establish a new commission on infrastructure investment. He will also discuss how infrastructure issues are likely to be addressed in debates on transportation reauthorization and climate change.
Blumenauer has long been the leading champion in Congress for planning. Come hear his ideas on how planning policies can be advanced in this year's election and in a new Congress and administration.
Practice Keynote
Jack Dangermond
Creating Our Future:
The Geographic Perspective
Tuesday, 8:15–9:15 a.m.
Ian McHarg advised planners to "consider all the factors as explicit information in planning decisions." Jack Dangermond, founder and president of ESRI, will discuss this concept and explain how today's emerging technology supports it.
World Planning Keynote
Robert Hunter, FAICP; Janet O’Neill; Blake Hudema; Shi Heping
Global Planning, Local Results
Wednesday, 7:45–8:45 a.m.
How can global partnerships help planners achieve real results at home? Hear from the Royal Town Planning Institute's incoming president, Janet O'Neill, the Canadian Institute of Planners president, Blake Hudema, and APA President Robert Hunter, FAICP, who have partnered to create the Global Planners Network. Then find out how the New Garden City concept is helping China meet the challenges of urbanization from Shi Heping, party secretary of Zhenjiang, who is working with APA to promote the concept in Chinese cities.
Closing Keynote
Paul Goldberger
Learning Anew from Las Vegas
Thursday, 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Paul Goldberger, architectural critic for The New Yorker and author of the Pulitzer prize-winning book Up From Zero, leads a discussion on lessons learned from the contemporary entertainment city. Goldberger is also the Joseph Urban Professor of Design and Architecture at The New School in New York City. The starting point for the presentation is Denise Scott Brown's and Robert Venturi's seminal work on the American city, Learning from Las Vegas. Goldberger looks back at the revelations of the 1977 book and measures them against the city of today. Hear what he has to say about where the American city may be headed.
United Nations Keynote
Anna Tibaijuka
Urban Planning and Sustainable Urban
Development: Issues for American Planners
Monday, Noon to 12:45 p.m.
In a recorded address, Anna Tibaijuka will deliver her message to conference attendees. She is the first African woman elected by the U.N. General Assembly to serve as under-secretary-general and executive director of a United Nations program. A Tanzanian national, she was educated at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science in Uppsala.
Paul Taylor, Chief, Office of the Executive Director, UN-HABITAT, will introduce Tibaijuka's address.
As the executive director of UN-HABITAT she is credited with promoting water, sanitation, and slum upgrading and in placing urban poverty high on the global development agenda. She founded the Tanzanian National Women's Council to promote women's economic and social rights, and the Barbro Johannson Girls' Education Trust, which advocates for quality education for poor girls in Tanzania and Africa.
She supports planning and challenges planners. She and APA's Executive Director, Paul Farmer, were co-presenters of the keynote address at the 2007 Royal Town Planning Institute's Annual Convention in London. Tibaijuka is credited with placing planning issues at the center of the 2006 World Urban Forum in Vancouver.
