Placemaking & Prosperity Summit May 2009

Celebrating the individual character of a community is a concept that has been around for centuries. However, somewhere along the way communities traded placemaking elements of historic preservation, such as main streets and socially oriented, pedestrian friendly community design, for Anywhere, USA-style asphalt parking lots, obstacle-laden narrow sidewalks, office parks and cookie-cutter neighborhoods.

Our populations are becoming more diverse while our cities and towns are becoming more homogenous and void of interest and authenticity. This one-day workshop helped communities learn how to define their community values and a sense of place (agricultural heritage, railroad influence, etc), with the long range goal of developing a guiding document to be used by community officials. Participants also learned how to review development proposals with the idea of preserving and protecting that sense of place.

For more information about the workshop, visit the Placemaking and Prosperity Summit link.

Emergency Response Workshop November 2008

Many communities across the nation have begun to take action to slow traffic on their streets and to balance the needs of motor vehicles with walking and bicycling. The result has been an adoption of 'traffic calming' measures, and designs for narrower streets, lanes and alleys. While these changes have raised some concerns by fire departments and other emergency responders as well as local service providers, such as utilities and sanitation agencies, there is no reason for alarm. Well-conceived traffic calming techniques and narrower street design can accommodate the needs of emergency responders and local service agencies while creating pedestrian friendly neighborhoods.

This one-day workshop included a presentation by Dan Burden to inform city and county planning and health department staff, traffic engineers, fire marshals and other emergency responders, and policy makers interested in understanding the art and science of neighborhood planning and traffic management. This workshop brought officials together to talk frankly about emergency response and service utility needs, traffic calming and street design.

Active Living by Design Workshop May 2008

For more information see the documents from Dan Burden's Emergency Response Workshop Presentations (ERWP)  from the week of April 28th through May 1, 2008.

Other presentations during Dan Burden's visit Spring 2008 listed also.