Sept. 16, 2016

The Strong Towns Conference will be a great opportunity to learn about various aspects of building a better Louisville, from historic preservation, economics, urban design, transportation and more. There are a lot of great professionals that will be leading discussions and should be well worth your time to attend! You can register here: http://preservationkentucky.org/newsEvents.php or at the door. Pre-registration is $25, $35 at the door. Below is more information about the conference. Hope to see you there.

A panel discussion including how local governments can build wealth and more effectively identify projects that generate a high return on public investment will highlight the Kentucky Heritage Council (KHC) Strong Towns Conference Sept. 24-25 in Louisville.

Panelists will also lead breakouts on topics such as urban design and the benefits of small-scale developments, a Q&A on how transportation planning and redesign can positively or negatively impact downtowns and neighborhoods, workings of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Green Lab, and a walking tour to explore how building and street design can accommodate both cars and humans.

The conference will examine a range of strategies for community growth and development based on 21st-century challenges. In addition to KHC, presenting partners are Preservation Kentucky, Preservation Louisville, the Kentucky Main Street Program and Friends of Kentucky Main Street, with support from KHC member Nana Lampton and Hardscuffle Inc.

Speakers will be Charles L. “Chuck” Marohn Jr., Strong Towns founder and president, a professional engineer and member of the American Institute of Certified Planners; Jim Kumon, executive director of Incremental Development Alliance; R. John Anderson, CNU, co-founder and principal for Anderson|Kim Architecture + Urban Design; Jim Lindberg, senior director of the National Trust Green Lab; Craig Potts, KHC executive director and state historic preservation officer; Kitty Dougoud, Kentucky Main Street Program administrator; and Steve Ervin, Paducah planning director.

Strong Towns is a national nonprofit group that promotes public policies to create enduring prosperity for cities, towns and neighborhoods by moving away from the traditional post-World War II model of suburbanization and community planning. The Strong Towns approach maintains that to be successful, local leaders must prioritize strengthening and enhancing existing infrastructure and community resources before investing in new projects, and stop investing in developments financed with public money but designed to become obsolete.

“The current system emphasizes continuous growth instead of resiliency and adaptability,” said  Marohn. “Communities must learn to act incrementally and use realistic, long-term financial analysis to guide spending.”

“Given recent community conversations about development projects across the state, we feel the timing of this conference could not be better,” said Potts.

Preregistration is $25, good for both days, or $35 at the door. Register at http://preservationkentucky.org/newsEvents.php. The conference hotel is Hilton Garden Inn Louisville Downtown.

See www.heritage.ky.gov for a detailed schedule, visit www.strongtowns.org or watch an installment of the Strong Towns Curbside Chat.