Washington DC Event Oct 16: Planning for Technology

From the YIPPS listserve:

"Planning for Technology
6:30PM Tuesday, October 16, 2012
New America Foundation
1899 L Street NW, Ste. 400
Washington, DC

Free and open to interested parties. Please RSVP.

Kansas City made headlines this year with the launch of the much-anticipated Google Fiber project. Excitement is high as Google’s Internet service is about to come online. Communities around the nation are recognizing that broadband Internet access is increasingly a local issue.

Even before 1,100 communities applied to be the site of the Google Fiber project, some cities around the country began constructing enhanced telecommunications infrastructure. They built their own fiber-optic networks to connect their area schools, hospitals and municipal offices. A few cities have gone further still and extended their local public networks to offer broadband services directly to their own residents.

As society continues its trend of digitalization, communities that lack easy and reliable access to communicate, both online and within the community, are at a growing disadvantage. Communications is a local issue. Yet, we often exclude issues of broadband access and Wi-Fi availability from urban planning discussions.

But it is not just local governments that are leading the way. Individual citizens are organizing themselves and creating neighborhood Wi-Fi mesh networks. These are member-driven projects where participants contribute their own equipment and expertise to build out Wi-Fi availability block by block. Beyond offering wireless Internet access, mesh networks offer new ways for citizens to engage with each other, as well as with local officials.

Join the University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation’s Student Planning Association for a conversation about technology, communication, and local communities with the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute.

Overview of Google Fiber / Municipal Broadband Networks
Patrick Lucey
Policy Program Associate, Open Technology Institute, New America Foundation

Overview of Community Wireless Mesh Networking
Greta Byrum
Senior Field Analyst, Open Technology Institute, New America Foundation
M.Sc. Urban Planning, Columbia University

Report from the Ground: Organizing and Maintaining a Community Wireless Network
Preston Rhea
Field Program Associate, Open Technology Institute, New America Foundation
Organizer, Mt. Pleasant Community Wireless Network

Click here to RSVP."

Renee LoSapio Presents on GIS Project at Southeast Student Planning Conference

MURP student Renee LoSapio recently presented on the topic "Toward a Ubiquitous City: Wi-Fi Signal Survey and Mapping for the Town of Blacksburg" at the Southeast Student Planning Conference (SESPC) in Columbus, GA.  The paper highlighted a collaborative project with the Center for Geospatial Information Technology and Virginia Tech's Urban Affairs and Planning Program.

More than 60 students from 10 different schools registered for this inaugural conference.  Planning schools represented at the program included Virginia, Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth, UNC-Chapel Hill, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Auburn, Florida, and Florida State.

This was the first Southeast Student Planning Conference that has been held, according to Bruce Stiftel from the Georgia Institute of Technology and part of the planning team, and it was organized by the Georgia Planning Association and Georgia Tech in conjunction with Georgia Planning Association (GPA) meetings.  Twenty-two students presented papers on a range of themes: Human Factors in Transportation Planning, Creating and Tracking Urban and Rural Jobs in the New Economy, Technology in Urban Planning, Public Participation that Works, Remaking Places and Developing Destinations, International Perspectives, and The Heartbeat of Healthy Communities. 

Stiftel also credited the organizing committee for the conference's success.  The Student Program Committee was chaired by Garrett Hyer (Georgia Tech) and included Dominick Ardis (Florida State University), Juan Castillo Jr. (University of Florida), Darren Cooper (Georgia Tech), Justine Crighton (University of Georgia), Richelle Gosman (Georgia Tech), Anna Harkness (Georgia Tech), Lamar Jabar (Virginia Commonwealth University), Renee LoSapio (Virginia Tech),  Spencer Moore (Auburn University), Abby Ness (University of Virginia), Christopher Pettit (Clemson University), Ted Ranney (Georgia Tech), Ashley Robertson (University of North Carolina), Christina Span (Georgia Tech), and Travis Voyles (Georgia Tech).   GPA members Brad Davis of Robert and Company and Bruce Stiftel, FAICP, of Georgia Tech advised the group.   Nisha Botchwey of Georgia Tech, Adam Hazell of Georgia Mountains Regional Commission, GPA President Laura Keyes of Atlanta Regional Commission, Jen Price of Sycamore Consulting, Rebecca Retclaff of Auburn, and Bruce Stiftel of Georgia Tech moderated the student sessions.   Stiftel also said GPA Conference Committee Chair Corey Hull and Conference Manger Elizabeth Trombetta were instrumental in organizing the conference. 

 

The South Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association and Clemson University will host the next SE Student Planning Conference in Fall 2013 and it will take place in conjunction with SCAPA’s annual fall conference.

Visit the conference website at http://www.planning.gatech.edu/news/first-ever-southeast-student-planning-conference-co-organized-georgia-tech for more information about the program and the presentations.

OCtober 15-16 Symposium on Planning for States and Nation-States

From the Planet Listserve:

"On October 15-16, 2012, a symposium on planning for states and nation-states will be held in Dublin, Ireland.  The symposium will be jointly hosted by the School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy at the University College Dublin, the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland, and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.  The symposium will include paper presentations from leading scholars from the US and Europe and responses from seasoned planning practitioners at the regional, state, and national levels.  The symposium will offer fresh new information for those interested in comparative planning, European spatial planning, state planning, regional planning and intergovernmental planning relationships.

More information, including a schedule of events, and some of the papers are now available at  http://www.ucd.ie/gpep/events/seminarsworkshopsconferences/natplansymp2012/.  Additional papers, comments, and presentations will be posted prior to the symposium.

Unfortunately, there are no more available seats at the symposium, but the conference will be streamed over the web.  To catch the webstream go to the conference website and click on Watch Online.

Inquiries about the symposium can be sent to Gerrit Knaap (gknaap@umd.edu) or Zorica Nedovic-Budic  (zorica.nedovic-budic@ucd.ie).

We hope to see you on line.

  

Planning for States and Nation-States: A TransAtlantic Perspective 

Symposium Overview

The symposium, Planning for States and Nation-States: A TransAtlantic Perspective, will examine the process, contents, and implementation of National Spatial Strategies in Europe and State Development Plans and planning frameworks in the United States. Such comparisons must be conducted carefully. State development plans and frameworks in the United States and national spatial strategies in Europe have distinctly different conceptual roots and administrative foundations. European nations and US states are probably more different than alike in geography, culture, economic structure, political institutions, and other aspects that pertain to planning at the supra-local scale.

But national spatial strategies and state development plans and frameworks face many of the same challenges. As inherently intergovernmental endeavors, successful implementation requires extensive vertical integration across various levels of government, horizontal integration across functional agencies within each level of government, and spatial articulation of concepts and policies at various geographic scales. The comparison, therefore, is potentially valuable.

Five states and five nations will be represented and discussed.  Specifically, state case studies will include Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland, all with some form of state development plan, and Oregon and California, states with no explicit state development plan but unique state planning frameworks. There will also be an overview of state and federal planning frameworks in the US and an overview of the European Spatial Development Strategy.  Case studies from Europe will include The Netherlands, Denmark, and Ireland, all with some form of national spatial plan, and France and Great Britain, nations with no national plan but unique national planning frameworks.  For each case study, an academic will present a paper followed by commentary from a local practitioner."

NoVa Workshop on Eating –And Growing–The SUPERFOODS

From Virginia Cooperative Extension:

"Come and learn about what to grow for high nutrition in the schoolyard or home and community garden - and why.

Eating –And Growing–

The SUPERFOODS

October 17th 7:00pm -9:00 pm

Fairlington Community Center, 3308 S. Stafford St. Arlington VA 

 Always wondered what you would grow easily that would be the best for you to grow here?

Always wondered which foods you could grow yourself that would give you the most nutrition for your effort?

This program for beginning and advanced gardeners and cooks will explore cultural practices as well as preparation guidelines for including SUPERFOODS in your diet. Based on Tonia Reinhardts book: SUPERFOODS: A Roadmap to Healthier Eating and current research being conducted at Virginia State University. Kirsten Buhls, Agriculture Extension Agent and VCE Master Food Volunteers will give a program on growing- and preparing- the most nutritious, easiest to grow SUPERFOODS for our urban Northern VA area. 

Free and Open to the Public  

Pre-registration is strongly encouraged. Please call:  703 228 6414 or email the VCE Horticulture Help Desk: ex013mg@vt.edu

If you are a person with a disability and need any assistive devices, services or other accommodations to participate in this activity, please contact the Arlington office of Virginia Cooperative Extension (703) 228-6400/TDD/PC 1-800-1120 during business hours of 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM to discuss accommodation at least 5 business days prior to the event"

California Climate Action Planning Conference – CCAPC 2013

Via the Planet listserve:

"Thursday, January 31 and Friday, February 1, 2013

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Join your fellow climate professionals in beautiful San Luis Obispo for the first conference to focus solely on the practice of local and regional climate action planning in California. Hosted by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), the two-day conference will feature in-depth presentations and discussions on both technical and political facets of climate action planning. The conference will be held on the Cal Poly campus and will feature experts and practitioners from around the state.

Conference Partners

Cal Poly College of Architecture and Environmental Design
Cal Poly City & Regional Planning Department
Governor’s Office of Planning and Research

Registration

Registration will open in November. If you would like to be on our mailing list please fill out the form at this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CCAPC2013

Conference Sponsors

We are in the process of identifying sponsors. Please contact Mike Boswell (mboswell@calpoly.edu) if you are interested in a sponsorship opportunity.

Conference Leadership

Conference Organizers
Michael R. Boswell, Ph.D., AICP, Professor of City & Regional Planning
Adrienne I. Greve, Ph.D., Associate Professor of City & Regional Planning
Steering Committee
Matt Burris, Raimi & Associates
Jeff Henderson, PMC
Michael McCormick, Governor’s Office of Planning & Research
Ian Peterson, Bay Area Air Quality Management District
Jillian Rich, PG&E
Honey Walters, Ascent Environmental

Schedule

The final schedule is under development and should be released in November. Anticipated sessions include:

• GHG Accounting
• GHG Emissions Reduction
• Public Participation
• Climate Adaptation
• Climate Vulnerability Assessment
• Plan and Policy Development
• CAP Implementation
• SB375 & CEQA
• University CAPs

For more information, contact Mike Boswell at mboswell@calpoly.edu or sign-up for our mailing list to get the latest updates: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CCAPC2013"

EndNote for National Capital Region on Oct 5 and 6 for Faculty, Staff, and Students

From Debbie Cash, Resource Center Library the Northern Virginia Center:

"Room 102, Northern Virginia Center

EndNote workshops will be held in the room 102 computer lab at the Northern Virginia Center. NVC is located at 7054 Haycock Road, Falls Church, Virginia, 22043, near the West Falls Church/VT/UVA Metro station. Parking is FREE on Saturday. Parking is $4.75 on Friday. Visitors can park in the MarcParc parking lot adjacent to NVC or use the Metro parking lot across the street (SmarTrip card). There are also some metered spaces in front of NVC.

Friday, October 5, 2012

4:00p.m. – 5:30p.m. An Introduction to EndNote
5:30p.m. – 7:00p.m. Open session for questions and answers

Saturday, October 6, 2012

10:00a.m. – 11:30p.m. An Introduction to EndNote
11:30p.m. – 1:00pm Open session for questions and answers

EndNote is a licensed software package from Thomson Reuters that is available at no charge to Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and students. EndNote is defined in its promotional materials as an online search tool, a reference and full text organizer with a collaborative Web tool, and a bibliography maker using Cite While You Write™ formatting. EndNote has a web-based product called EndNote Web that can be used in place of the software product or as a supplement to it.

The latest EndNote software (X6 for Windows and X5 for Macs – X6 for Macs will be out soon) can be downloaded from the university’s network software sitehttp://network.software.vt.edu/. If downloading from home you will need to access the site through a VPN connection. You can download from the Northern Virginia Center if you have registered for VT wireless access. For assistance, contact the staff in the Resource Center on the first floor. You can also load the software onto your laptop from CD’s (Windows and Mac) the instructor will bring to the session.

The purpose of these sessions is to provide a quick, hands-on introduction in using the basic elements of EndNote. Activities will include learning how to:
• Create a library.
• Add records to a library manually.
• Export records from online databases (e.g., Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, Web of Science) into a library.
• Add PDF articles to records in a library.
• Create bibliographies and in-text citations from records in a library.

The instructor is Dave Beagle. If you cannot make a session, but would like to schedule a 1:1 appointment at a later time using videoconferencing or Skype, please contact him by email (beagle@vt.edu), telephone (540-552-0414), or Skype (drbvatech).

For assistance with library research, accessing resources, or using EndNote please contact staff at the Resource Center Library on the first floor of the Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church. We can be reached by email (library@nvc.vt.edu), telephone (703-538-8340), or chat (www.lib.vt.edu/nvc)."

@UAPVirginiaTech's Derek Hyra recognized as Scholar of the Week by the Office of the Vice President for Research

by Barbara Micale

"The Office of the Vice President for Research recognizes Derek Hyra, associate professor of urban affairs and planning, for research on the redevelopment of inner-city, minority areas. Hyra’s work enhances understanding of how to facilitate equitable development that ultimately benefits long-term residents."  Read more at http://www.research.vt.edu/scholar-of-the-week/derek-hyra.

Please join us in congratulating Derek for this much-deserved recognition!