Call for Abstracts: HPD Special Issue on the Community Development Block Grant Program

"Given that 2014 is the 40th anniversary of the CDBG program, this is an opportune time to both take stock of the program’s evolution, accomplishments, shortcomings, and potential and propose program changes to better address the needs of low- and moderate-income communities in the 21st century. To facilitate this endeavor, Housing Policy Debate is organizing a special issue on the CDBG program at 40, to be guest edited by Bill Rohe of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and George Galster of Wayne State University. See the details for abstract submission at: http://tinyurl.com/c9jlren

Tom Sanchez, Professor

Urban Affairs & Planning, Virginia Tech

http://tomsanchez.wordpress.com/"

Call for Proposals: National Brownfields Conference

From ICMA:

"Date: May 15 – 17, 2013

Location: Atlanta, GA 

In today’s economy, one of the common issues facing local governments is the redevelopment of abandoned, underutilized or potentially contaminated properties, also known as brownfields. The EPA’s Brownfields Program provides direct funding for brownfields assessment, cleanup, revolving loans, and environmental job training, but many local governments fail to take advantage of these resources.

The National Brownfields Conference, cosponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and ICMA, is the largest, most comprehensive conference in the nation focused on environmental revitalization and economic redevelopment. In its 15th year, the conference attracts over 6,000 attendees and 200 exhibitors to converge for two and a half days of educational sessions, plenaries, training workshops, walking tours, volunteer activities, mobile workshops, film screenings, and much much more!

Come hear from leading experts and city officials on how your community can benefit from EPA’s resources!

How Do I Submit a Session Idea?
The Call for Ideas is open on the official Brownfields 2013 website. Use the online submission tool to propose a full session idea for Brownfields 2013. The Call for Ideas closes on August, 3, 2012.

What Topics Are Included in the Program?
The Brownfields 2013 Planning Committee is particularly interested in topics related to:

• Community engagement
• Environmental cleanup
• Sustainable solutions
• Environmental justice
• Green technology
• Community revitalization.

For more information, contact Grant Sparks at gsparks@icma.org or 202-962-3657.
www.brownfieldsconference.org"

2012 World Town Planning Day Online Conference - Save the Date and Call for Proposals

World Town Planning Day Online Conference 2012

Smart Communities Connect

6-7 November 2012

The World Town Planning Day Online Conference Committee topic for the 2012 conference is Smart Communities Connect.   This theme is all about learning how technological advancements impact on our communities, how we can better plan ahead to prepare for this ‘knowledge revolution’ and improve our awareness of the challenges and opportunities that are presented to our communities by advances in technology. 

We are putting together an exciting line-up of speakers to spread new ideas and encourage discussion across the world’s community of planning professionals.  What better way to celebrate the profession than be engaging in a worldwide conversation on-line. 

To learn more about this exciting experience and learn more about the Call for Proposals (due by July 30), visit www.planningtheworld.net or email to planningtheworld@gmail.com.

This event is proudly brought to you by planning organisations from around the world.

Call for Proposals: Dupont Summit on Science, Techology and Environmental Policy

From The Policy Studies Organization:

"The Policy Studies Organization (PSO) invites you to submit a proposal for the 2012 Dupont Summit focused on science, technology and environmental policy issues. The Summit will be held at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC on Friday, December 7, 2012. The purpose of the conference is to promote dialogue about current policy concerns and to provide a civil space for discussion across the political spectrum.  The format will include panel discussions along with some individual presentations.  You are welcomed to submit a topic proposal or a proposal that includes others beside yourself for a panel. We encourage proposals to be sent in before our early deadline of May 1, 2012 for priority consideration to PSO executive director Daniel Gutierrez-Sandoval at Daniel Gutierrez dgutierrezs@ipsonet.org.  Proposals will continue to be accepted after May 1st until September 30, 2012, the final deadline.  For more information, visit our website. The Policy Studies Organization publishes 11 journals and 3 book series. We promote discussion of policy concerns and further research and dissemination of policy scholarship. Please contact me with any questions. Regards, Michael Horka Policy Studies Organization"

Call for Proposals: 2012 Virginia Forum, due Sept 30

Virginia Forum: March 29-31, 2012

“Greater Virginias”

The 2012 Virginia Forum will be held on the campus of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The Virginia Forum is interdisciplinary and welcomes proposals from scholars, teachers, and professionals in all fields. The theme, “Greater Virginias,” emphasizes Virginia’s relationship across political and geographical boundaries to broader ideas, patterns, and adjoining regions. The theme is comparative and invites scholars to submit papers about all aspects of Virginia life, geography, environment, history, and culture. We plan to offer sessions and workshops that draw from the full range of Virginia-focused research, including the humanities and sciences.

We invite proposals from fields including all the arts and sciences:
economics, politics, geography, law, literature, history, politics, archaeology and anthropology, environmental studies, museum and library studies, preservation, and others. Please submit a one-page paper proposal and a one-page curriculum vitae in a single email message to vaforum@jmu.edu by 30 September 2011. Please be sure to include your email address and other contact information.

Proposals for complete panel sessions, workshops, etc. are encouraged, and should include a one-page description of the overall session, as well as a separate, one-page description for each individual presentation in the session and a one-page curriculum vitae for each panel member. Additional information is available online at www.virginiaforum.org.

Direct further inquiries to: vaforum@jmu.edu.
Proposal Deadline: September 30, 2011.

Call for chapter proposals: Sustainable eParticipation

A message from Rolf Leuhrs from Pep-Net:

"In the past 5-10 years, eParticipation has emerged as a novel theoretical and practical domain, and it will further characterize the policy agendas of most industrialized and developing countries in the near future.

However, documented practice shows mixed results from eParticipation initiatives, and concerns about sustainability-related matters (the likelihood that an expensive trial program will become “embedded” as a stable practice in the institutional setup of the concerned public sector organization) have started to emerge.

This is why Francesco Molinari and I are launching the initiative of this collective book to be published in 2012 by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.).

The book should provide relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings in the area of eParticipation. It is aimed to promote awareness and further debate on the scope and limitations of citizen engagement supported by ICT in modern democracies. It will also offer operational guidelines and lessons learned from past experiences to the benefit of government executives wanting to engage in eParticipation trials.

Specifically, the book is designed to deliver:

• a collection of European and international best practice of sustainable eParticipation
• a set of evaluation exercises to be used as guidelines for political understanding and future action
• an overview of existing methods, tools and ICT solutions available as a result of prior experiments
• an initial assessment of the “market potential” of the above. 

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before July 30, 2011, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the scope and contents of their proposed chapter.

For more information regarding this call, please visit http://supart.org/"