ULI New Haven-Hartford-New London Satellite Hosts 2nd Event

This was posted on Design New Haven today:

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

ULI New Haven-Hartford-New London Satellite Hosts 2nd Event

On February 9th, the Urban Land Institute's new Connecticut-focused satellite committee will be hosting its second event in New Haven, in collaboration with the Westchester-Fairfield District Council. The event focuses on adapting to changes in the real estate and development marketplace. See here for details and to register.

Panelists include Lyle D. Wray, PhD, Executive Director of the Capitol Region Council of Governments, Dara Kovel, Regional Director for The Jonathan Rose Companies Connecticut office, and Mark Scheinberg, President of Goodwin College. Laura Turlington, AIA, Principal of the Downtown New Haven architectural firm Pirie Turlington Architects is the moderator.

The event will be held at 45 Church Street, a stunningly beautiful turn-of-the-century bank building which was recently acquired by Jonathan Rose Companies' Smart Growth Investment I fund. That fund is committed to "acquiring real estate near transit or in walkable communities.”

In many ways land use policy is the most important ingredient in creating walkable communities. We here a lot of talk in the press and blogosphere about bike lanes, sidewalks, and pathways, but if a town isn't built on a human scale where complementary land uses are within walking distance of one another, we're going to end up with more of the same auto-centric developmement patterns that have marked the last fifty years. So, if we want to see real changes in our transportation system here in Connecticut, if we want to have options that extend beyond the autombile, we first have to take one step back and look at the way we use land.

I'll be at this event on Monday, and I would strongly encourage anyone interested in walking, biking, complete streets, urban planning, or architecture to attend. I've had the opportunity to meet a number panelists and steering committee members for the group, and I can confidently say that this is a great group of people, with a lot of interesting and innovative ideas.

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