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Second Conference on Enhancing Self-Reliance and Resilience of Cities
December 1-3, 2009 |
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Conference Overview Cities occupy only 2% of the Earth’s land surface but consume 75% of total global energy and produce 80% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Daily needs of modern cities for food, water, energy, and other materials are met almost exclusively through importation of goods from distant places, often across continents, in to the cities. Increasing energy costs and climate change require a shift from globalization to relocalization of the economy with greater attention to preserving and enhancing natural capital. The challenge intensifies with emerging urban issues including increased inventory of vacant lots and decreased tax revenues due to home foreclosures and urban sprawl, increased poverty, hunger, obesity, and heart-related ailments, and increased air, water, and soil contamination. Therefore, urban communities must focus on how to use and manage land, water, and built infrastructure to meet food, water, energy, and material needs locally, while addressing social, economic, and health issues without compromising the needs of future generations. Thus, urban communities must adopt holistic approaches to address these critical and interconnected local and global issues. This conference will explore and foster a new paradigm in city design and transformation in which services provided by natural ecosystems are preserved, rural and urban ecosystems are integrated, and food, energy and other resources are produced, consumed, and recycled within the city and contiguous metropolitan region. Such a paradigm shift will enhance city and regional resilience, minimize ecological footprint of growing human population, and improve local and global stability and economic sustainability. The conference will focus on the science, education, and technology innovations and needs for an ecological transformation that will constructively address the intertwined challenges presented by climate change, rising energy costs, food insecurity, water shortages, emerging health threats, environmental degradation, and urban sprawl. The conference will bring together scientists, students, landscape architects, city managers, non-profit organizations, business owners, urban farmers and landscapers, community leaders, and policy makers and will provide a venue for sharing, discussing and synthesizing information to facilitate the development of new technologies, management practices, and policies needed to plan, design, and build more self-reliant communities. Central questions to be addressed by conference speakers include: · Why is urban self-reliance and resilience important in today’s world? · What previous research provides a strong foundation for enhancing self-reliance and resilience of urban ecosystems? · What are the key research gaps in building self-reliant and resilient cities? · How can we preserve and enhance supporting, provisioning, regulating and social services provided by ecosystems in the cities? · What community designs and technologies enhance environmental, social, health, and economic outcomes of urban landscapes? · How can vacant lots and properties be used productively to enhance ecosystem services in cities? · What are the needs, characteristics, and opportunities of a new multifunctional urban agriculture that extends from rural parts of metropolitan regions all the way to the urban core? · What ecological systems, designs, and products are needed to sustainably mange storm water in urban areas? · What kind of local systems of enhancing energy use efficiency, energy production and resource recovery from waste streams are suitable for use in urban areas? · How can we bring about positive change in public attitudes and behaviors towards landscaping norms and practices that enhance local and global sustainability? Target audience for the conference: Social and natural scientists from
universities, government, NGO’s, and consulting firms Conference Program Committee Dr. Parwinder Grewal, Chair, Professor and Director, Center for Urban Environment and Economic Development, The Ohio State University, OARDC, Wooster, Ohio Mr. David Beach, Director of Sustainability, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio Mrs. Frances Crowe DiDonato, Manager, Department of Public Utilities, Office of Sustainability, Cleveland, Ohio Dr. Todd Houser, Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District, Valley View, Ohio Dr. Casey Hoy, Professor and Kellogg Chair, Agroecosystems Management Dr. Mathew Kleinhenz, Associate Professor, Horticulture and Crop Science Dr. Peter Ling, Associate Professor, Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering Mrs. Linda Mack, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Cleveland, Ohio Mrs. Elaine Marsh, Ohio Greenways, Ohio Parks and Recreation Association, Peninsula, Ohio Dr. Brad Massi, Executive Director, New Agrarian Center, Oberlin, Ohio Mr. Peter McDermott, Network Weaver, Entrepreneurs for Sustainability, Cleveland, Ohio Mr. Kevin Power, Coordinator, Urban Landscape Ecology Program, The Ohio State University, OARDC, Wooster, Ohio Mrs. Bobbi Reichtell, Neighborhood Progress Inc., Senior Vice President, Cleveland, Ohio Mrs. Alayne L. Reitman, Board Director, Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio Dr. Terry Robinson, Research Scientist, Cleveland Metroparks, Cleveland, Ohio Mrs. Natalie Ronayne, Education Director, Cleveland Botanical Garden, Cleveland, Ohio Dr. Terry Schwarz, Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, Kent State University, Cleveland, Ohio Dr Susan Shockey, Associate Professor, Franklin County Extension, Franklin, CFAES Ms Morgan Taggart, Ohio State University Extension, Cleveland, CFAES Dr. Michael Walton, Associate Professor, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio |
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Additional information on the conference can be obtained from the coordinators:
Lisa
Miller
Kevin Power Word documents for Sponsor Agreement and Vendor Contract |
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