A rich program and optional events are announced; topics include markets, local economies, placemaking, walkability, small town revitalization, new research in human factors for health, livability and sustainability, and much more; early discount registration ends September 30th
ABOVE: A partial roster of the 62 city leaders and scholars who will speak on a rich diversity of livability topics at the 61st International Making Cities Livable conference.
CORTONA, ITALY - Partners and participants in the 61st International Making Cities Livable (IMCL) conference will represent internationally leading NGO heads, researchers, practitioners, city officials, and implementers of landmark projects for livable cities. The conference, titled "The Ecology of Place: Learning from Nature, Culture, and History," will focus on critical challenges including urban resilience, climate-friendly planning, urban health and well-being, and sustainable urbanism. Specific topics will include walkability and bikability, transportation reform, public spaces and placemaking, climate-friendly planning, food quality and food equity, markets and viable local economies, cities for children, nature-based solutions, neuroscience and user experience, lessons of Italian hill towns, and much more.
Partners, sponsors and participants in the conference include The King's Foundation (UK), UN-Habitat, INTBAU, the Congress for the New Urbanism, the World Farmers' Markets Coalition, the US Embassy in Rome, PlacemakingUS, several universities, and our gracious hosts, the City of Cortona.
Speakers will include global leaders in livable and sustainable urbanism. Ben Bolgar, M.V.O., of the King's Foundation in London will speak about new research on walkability and health. David Brain, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate at the University of Notre Dame, will speak on "Place Networks by Design: Building a Civic Ecology of Place."Â Â Kostas Mouratidis, Ph.D. of the University of Copenhagen will discuss fascinating and important new research on urban form, health and and well-being. Vikas Mehta, Ph.D. of the University of Cincinnati will speak on US policy on walkable public spaces and transportation, and report on his discussion on this topic with presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Researchers will also discuss new research findings on urban health, well-being and user experience, and the implications for practice and policy. They will include Alexandros Lavdas, Ph.D., Senior Researcher at the Institute for Biomedicine, EURAC in Bolzano, Italy; Ann Sussman and Abigail Sekely of The Human Architecture and Planning Institute; and Cleo Valentine, researcher at the University of Cambridge, who will discuss new medical findings on the health impacts of architecture and urban form.
Other leaders of landmark projects in walkable, mixed-use, ecological developments will share their implementation lessons. Sara Bega, Town Architect of Las Catalinas, Costa Rica, will describe the detailed process of building a successful ecological development centered on healthy living and social cohesion. Liz Moule, a co-founder fo the COngress for the New Urbanism, and a principal of Moule & Polyzoides, will share lessons of Italian hill towns, and how they were applied to a number of iconic projects by their firm, including the seminal ecological model of Civano, Arizona. Jim Brainard, who served for 28 years as mayor of Carmel, Indiana, and Henry Mestetsky, Director of Redevelopment for the City, will describe the financial tools and strategies they used successfully, including tax increment finance, to achieve an instructive exemplar of suburban retrofit.
Other participants will describe inspiring new projects from around the world. Robert Krasser of The Pattern Institute, based in Salzburg, Austria, will describe a new bicycle pattern language developed for Zanzibar, Africa.Ayanda Roji of the City of Johannesburg and the Center on African Public Spaces will discuss pioneering work to improve public spaces in Africa and around the world. Representatives of the placemaking movement will speak on their global movement and its progress, including Ryan Smolar and Madeleine Spencer of PlacemakingUS.
Carmelo Troccoli, Director General of the World Farmers Markets Coalition, will discuss the burgeoning movement to build farmers' markets around the world, end food deserts, provide viable ways of life for rural economies, and improve food quality, food security, and public health. Laura Petrella, Head of Planning, Finance and Economy for UN-Habitat, will describe their recent work to implement the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda, and the upcoming World Urban Forum in Cairo, Egypt.
Among the participants will be a number of leaders in the US-based New Urbanism movement. Robert Davis, Town Founder of the early and iconic Seaside, Florida, will speak on the lessons of that seminal 40-year project. He and his wife Daryl Davis founded Seaside Institute, whose mission is "inspiring livable communities" (a partner in the IMCL conference). The Institute’s three core tenets are "Sustainability, Connectivity, Adaptability—working together to expand the lessons of New Urbanism and develop new strategies for a rapidly changing world."
Seaside Institute will also conduct a tour of Pienza, Italy, following the conference, led by University of Notre Dame Professor David Mayernik as well as Robert Davis, Daryl Davis, and Seaside Institute Executive Director Christy Milliken.
Representatives of the City of Cortona, our gracious hosts, will describe their work to diversity the local economy in the wake of the COVID pandemic, and a declining resident population that is all too common in Italian towns -- and in rural towns around the world. A movement to provide for "left-behind citizens" is growing around the world -- and in an age of growing threats to urban well-being, and growing resentment translating into political movements, the issue could not be more important.
These and many other city leaders will share their lessons in a unique peer-to-peer gathering of international, interdisciplinary scholars, practitioners, officials and NGO heads. The IMCL conferences were begun in 1985Â by a Viennese medical sociologist and a British architectural scholar. Henry and Suzanne Lennard were passionate about sharing the best international lessons to create a new generation of livable, durable, ecological cities, towns and suburbs.
Now, at a time of rising threats to urban and planetary well-being, the agenda of effective urban reform could not be more urgent. Please join us for an inspiring exploration of critical urban issues, in an instructive and beautiful locale.
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NOTE: Discount registration ends September 30th. For more information or to register, please visit https://www.imcl.online/2024-cortona
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