The goal of the Urban Affairs Center's What Works Seminar Series is to bring in prominent authorities on topics of local interest and concern. If you have any suggestions for future What Works speakers or topics, please e-mail us at: uac@utnet.utoledo.edu.

2003-2004 What Works Speaker Series

Creating a Sustainable Food System in Northwest Ohio

August 13, 2004 from 10-11:30am
Sanger Branch Library
3030 West Central Avenue
Toledo, Ohio

Dr. Kami Pothukuchi, professor at Wayne State University's Department of Geography and Urban Planning, provides an overview of successful food system projects in North America and how they relate to our region. View the program announcement here (PDF file).

The New Urbanism

December 10, 2003 at 7:15 P.M.
The University of Toledo
Driscoll Center Alumni Auditorium
Bancroft St. at University Hills Blvd.
Park behind building in Lot #17

A presentation on trends on urban design by Doug Farr, AIA, and Laurie Volk. The announcement for this program can be viewed either in Adobe Acrobat PDF form or HTML.

2002 What Works Speaker Series

Robert Gibbs: "Rethinking Retail"

September 23, 2002
The University of Toledo
Driscoll Center Alumni Auditorium

For details about this event, click here to view the program announcement.

Joe Riley, Mayor of Charleston, South Carolina

Friday, February 22, 2002
12 noon - 1:30 p.m.
Toledo-Lucas County Public Library--Main Branch (downtown)
McMaster Center
Free and open to the public

Joe Riley, five term Mayor of Charleston, South Carolina, will speak and give a slide presentation on preservation policy and how the historic fabric of a community can attract tourism and seed revitalization. His presentation will draw on the successful revitalization of Charleston's downtown. Mayor Riley's talk is sponsored by The Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions, Neighborhoods in Partnership, The Historic District Commission, and The Urban Affairs Center.

2001 What Works Speaker Series

Myron Orfield: "Finding Common Ground in Northwest Ohio"

June 19, 2001

View the results of the local smart growth survey (this requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).

View the video recordings of Mr. Orfield's presentation. (Quicktime is required to view these videos; click here to read about how to obtain it if you need it).

View the PowerPoint slides accompanying Mr. Orfield's presentation.

EVENT FLYER

 

Myron Orfield, former Minnesota State Senator and president/founder of Ameregis

 

Myron Orfield spoke at the McMaster Conference Center at the Main Branch of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library (MAP TO LIBRARY-click on "Discover your Library" then click on "How to Find Us") from 10:00 AM- Noon on June 19th 2001. There is no charge for this event.

 

There was a "Next Steps" working luncheon following Orfield's presentation. Seating for the Luncheon was limited to the first 100 to RSVP, the charge for the Luncheon was $15.00/person. 

 

If you would like to receive the formal mailing and registration materials for these events please send your contact information (name, address, organization, city, state, zip) to the Urban Affairs Center at uac@utnet.utoledo.edu.

Myron Orfield, author of Metropolitics and numerous articles on sprawl and regional cooperation. Orfield is the former Special Assistant Attorney General of Minnesota, and is now an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. In 1990, he was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives from a district in southwest Minneapolis and was reelected in 1996 by the largest vote margin of any member of the Minnesota House with a contested race. Since 1995, he has directed the Metropolitan Area Program of the National Growth Management Leadership Project. In 2000, Orfield was elected to the Minnesota State Senate.

"Orfield's careful and thorough analysis of metropolitan development trends has renewed a vital metropolitan debate. With this analysis he has built a broad, powerful political coalition of central cities and older suburban communities to bring reform to regional governance, housing, land use and transportation policies. Vetoes have blocked some of the most important reforms, but their time will come. This is a major contribution to the field."

George Latimer, Former Mayor of St. Paul and Special Adviser to the Secretary of HUD and Donald Fraser, Former Congressman and Mayor of Minneapolis.

   

Co-Sponsors 

(More added daily!)

 

 

 

         February 26, 2001

Bruce Katz, Director

Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy

The Brookings Institute

Bruce Katz is a Senior Policy Fellow at the Brookings Institute and is the Director of the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy at the Brookings Institute.  Katz is the former Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (1993-96); the former Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs (1992-93); the former Senior Counsel for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs (1987-92); and a former Associate at the law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. Katz's presentation in Toledo focused on the importance of building a metropolitan agenda for Toledo and Northwestern Ohio.

The Bruce Katz presentation which was co-sponsored by the Toledo Lucas County Plan Commissions, LISC, TMACOG, NW Section of APA and the Urban Affairs Center, went well and attracted an audience of about 200. You can view Katz's PowerPoint presentation entitled Beyond Sprawl: Reinventing the Metropolis.  In addition, you can take a look at the Brookings Review, Summer 2000 edition which features articles by Bruce Katz.

As a follow-up to the Katz presentation, Myron Orfield, Minnesota State Senator will be in Toledo on June 19, 2000 to help us figure out how to build a regional agenda! See above for details.

 

2000 What Works Speakers

    March 31, 2000

 

Ronald Lee Fleming, President

The Townscape Institute

 

Fleming is an Urban Planner and Designer, a Preservation Advocate, and an Environmental Educator and Critic. He was a pioneer in the Mainstreet movement and is the author of six books on urban design and environmental interpretation. He presentations in Toledo focused on the importance of adapting corporate franchise design to be compatible with local community character and design, and incorporating local environmental and history into urban design and public art.

March 24, 2000

 

Douglas Kelbaugh, Dean

Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

The University of Michigan

 

Kelbaugh co-authored, with Peter Calthorpe, the national bestseller, The Pedestrian Pocketbook which documented their pioneering work in transit-oriented-development and jumpstarted New Urbanism.  Kelbaugh is also the author of Common Place: Toward Neighborhood and Regional Design, which addresses the theory, design, and practice of urban and regional planning.  Kelbaugh's What Works presentations introduced the tenants of New Urbanism and how to redesign post war retail/commercial developments to make them more viable, attractive, integrated with surrounding neighborhoods, and more pedestrian friendly.

 

The 2000 What Works Series was very well received. The Kelbaugh presentation helped build support and momentum for the Walk Westgate community planning effort and resulted in a Community Design Charrette conducted in partnership with the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, the Design Center of NE Ohio, and the Kent State College of Architecture.