Creating Green Communities Congressional Briefing

Washington, D.C. • November 19, 2009

Rayburn House Office Building — B338
8:30am – 10:00am

The American Planning Association and the National Building Museum will host a Congressional Briefing on November 19, 2009 from 8:30am to 10:00am in Rayburn B338 to explore the future of Green Communities and the policies needed to promote them. APA and the National Building Museum have recently published Green Community, a collection of thought-provoking essays — including an essay by Rep. Earl Blumenauer — that illuminate the connections among personal health, community health, and our planet's health.

The panel discussion will highlight how the health of our planet, our economy, and our families depend on how we plan, design, and construct our communities. Our increasing dependence on fossil fuels over the last century has given us unprecedented individual mobility, but the consequences are clear. Climate change, sprawl, and reliance on foreign oil are just a few of the challenges we face in designing new — and adapting existing — communities to be greener. Interest among local leaders and the public in sustainable approaches to community growth and development has never been higher, and the need for new federal policies to promote green, sustainable communities is great.

Based on the National Building Museum's exhibition by the same name, the panel discussion will be moderated by Susan Piedmont-Palladino, Co-Editor of the Green Community publication and curator of the exhibition.  She will be joined by expert contributors to the publication, including Jonathan Rose, Jonathan Rose Companies LLC, Thomas Daniels, University of Pennsylvania, and Kaid Benfield, NRDC.  The book and the briefing offer specific examples of how to create green communities and discuss the policy choices we face in advancing sustainability.

Please RSVP to govtaffairs@planning.org.

More information on the Green Community exhibition

More information on the Green Community book