Efforts to revitalize post World War II
suburbs was the theme of the Blakely Center’s third annual
Conference on the Suburbs, held Thursday, January 25,
2007 at the Mission Inn in downtown Riverside.
Nearly
300 people – a sold out audience – registered for the
conference, entitled “Revitalizing the Suburbs.”
This year’s event focused on some of the
strategies and innovations being used in Southern California
and across the nation to redevelop older suburbs – often
into pedestrian friendly, transit-accessible urban villages.
Many of these innovations are being used in Inland area
cities to revitalize aging downtowns or transform other
older development.
The
revitalization topic was especially relevant because just
a few weeks before the conference, Edward J. Blakely,
the Center’s namesake, was appointed as the Executive
Director for Recovery Management for the City of New Orleans.
Blakely, who grew up in San Bernardino and
graduated from UCR provided the introduction to the conference
and also led a panel covering Mobility and Access. He
also shared some of his experiences so far in shaping
a post-Katrina New Orleans.
Two
other panels focused on reshaping Suburban Downtowns and
Transforming Brownfields and Greenfields.
Joel Kotkin, an Irvine Senior Fellow at
the New America Foundation, gave the luncheon address
on “Lessons for Planning Suburbs.” Kotkin is an internationally
known authority on global, economic, political and social
trends.
In future weeks, complete transcripts of
the panel discussions and the luncheon address will be
posted on the website.
Conference
Photography by Peter Phun
