Rebecca Evans | Ithaca, NY

Sustainability Planner at City of Ithaca

In 2019, the City of Ithaca, NY made the bold decision to adopt the Ithaca Green New Deal, a resolution that committed the city to community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030. Over the past three years, the City has developed the most aggressive decarbonization plan in the country and secured over $100 million in funding from private equity to execute their plan. As progress on the Ithaca GND continues, it stands to serve as a blueprint for other U.S. municipalities as we continue to grapple with the changing economy and climate.

Rebecca Evans, Sustainability Planner for the City of Ithaca, will share the grassroots effort that led to the Ithaca Green New Deal resolution and the City’s implementation plan. She’ll discuss the nation-leading electrification program, the critical need to build and maintain community partnerships, and the justice lens through which all Green New Deal projects are designed and implemented.

Thank you for attending:

"A City That Works for Everyone"
Wed, February 23, 2022 | 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET via ZOOM

Our 2022 Lecture Series kickoff webinar, setting up a framework for this year's exploration of "The Ideal City" with CNU Executive Director Rick Cole via Zoom!

What does it mean for a city or community to be "ideal?" We will start exploring this through the lens of new urbanism.

Our communities face many challenges: segregation and inequity, affordability, a lack of owner-occupied housing, etc. Proposed solutions include multimodal transportation accessible across neighborhoods, sustainability and resilience in the face of climate change, local sources for food and energy in all seasons, a public realm of high value and inclusion, and lively 15-minute villages that exemplify local character and are easily connected.

Through this year's lecture series we will unpack what it means to be "ideal," explore cities that would be categorized as ideal, and ask if/how our own community could become ideal.

Rick Cole | Pasadena, CA

Executive Director at Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU)

Rick Cole was recently selected by CNU’s Board of Directors to be CNU’s fifth executive director since the organization’s founding three decades ago. He brings unique experience as an elected local official, city manager and urban policy expert to his role leading the staff of CNU.

Past Mayor of Pasadena, California, Cole was among the first elected officials in the nation to embrace New Urbanism, leading an effort to rewrite the city’s General Plan to embrace timeless ways of building and target new, human-scale development around the coming of light rail transit. Later, as City Manager of Azusa, he spearheaded the first citywide form-based code in California, a new urbanist tool for producing high quality design. Cole also championed civic engagement, affordable housing, complete streets, green building, and community wellbeing as the City Manager of Ventura and then Santa Monica. As Deputy Mayor for Budget and Innovation for the City of Los Angeles, where he oversaw a $5 billion budget and secured a $3.2 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to set up an “I-Team” to seek ways to maximize community reinvestment to benefit existing residents.

_____________________________________

"Worthy of Investment: Restoring Value to Black Communities"
Wed, March 23, 2022 | 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET via ZOOM

Rochester’s percentage of homeownership is 36.3% (nearly half of the national average) and Dr. Perry’s research has shown that Rochester underappraises Black homes by 65% (second highest percentage in the country). How can we ensure that homeownership is accessible to our most marginalized residents?

Through this year's lecture series we will unpack what it means to be "ideal," explore cities that would be categorized as ideal, and ask if/how our own community could become ideal.

Dr. Andre Perry | Washington, DC

Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute & Author of Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America's Black Cities)

Dr. Andre M. Perry is a Senior Fellow at Brookings Metro, a scholar-in-residence at American University, and a columnist for the Hechinger Report. A nationally known and respected commentator on race, structural inequality, and education, Perry is the author of the book “Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities,” which is currently available wherever books are sold. Perry is a regular contributor to MSNBC and has been published by numerous national media outlets, including The New York Times, The Nation, The Washington Post, TheRoot.com and CNN.com. Perry has also made appearances on HBO, CNN, PBS, National Public Radio, NBC, and ABC. Perry’s research focuses on race and structural inequality, education, and economic inclusion. Perry’s recent scholarship at Brookings has analyzed Black-majority cities and institutions in America, focusing on valuable assets worthy of increased investment.

Perry's pioneering work on asset devaluation has made him a go to researcher for policymakers, community development professionals and civil rights groups. Perry co-authored the groundbreaking 2018 Brookings Institution report “The Devaluation of Assets in Black Neighborhoods” and has presented its findings on the price of home in Black neighborhoods across the country, including to the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. He has extended that report’s focus on housing in Black neighborhoods to include other assets such as businesses, schools and banks.

_____________________________________

Thank you for attending!

"Food Equity by Design"
Wed, April 27, 2022 | 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET via ZOOM

An afternoon webinar on urban agriculture & sustainable food systems with Dr. Samina Raja via Zoom!

Cities around the United States are rebuilding their community food infrastructure. Community gardens, urban farms, farmers' markets, rooftop gardens, and fresh food cooperatives are transforming food landscapes. How does this resurgent interest in communities’ food infrastructure center questions of equity and justice, if at all? Who controls food landscapes in cities? What role can planning and design play in creating a more just and equitable community food infrastructure? Drawing on community-centered research completed in US cities, Dr. Samina Raja will explore these questions in her talk as part of the Reshaping Rochester series.

Through this year's lecture series we will unpack what it means to be "ideal," explore cities that would be categorized as ideal, and ask if/how our own community could become ideal.