Somewhere beyond the current financial challenges facing the City of Detroit, and all the media coverage of alternative energy, urban farming and sustainable building materials—lies the future and landscape of South East Michigan.
Real, substantive, transformative change is within our grasp, and for the most part, it won’t happen so much in the halls of government as it will at the drawing board. City planners, developers, architects, building contractors, and civil engineers, as well as elected officials, hold the real keys and responsibility for our new, sustainable Michigan future. The clear opportunity now exists for new neighborhoods and sections of the city and region to be developed or re-designed to offer improved efficiency, green spaces and better quality of life for all those who live, work, shop, play and learn in them.
The Detroit Regional Chapter of the US Green Building Council is presenting a ground-breaking forum on LEED for Neighborhood Development on Friday June 8 at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn that will bring some of the nation’s brightest and foremost authorities on the topic to town to share their wisdom. All members of the planning and building community are invited and strongly urged to participate in the discussion. Information and registration is available at www.usgbcdetroit.org.
Presenters include:
Doug Farr, FAIA, of Farr Associates, Chicago, author of “Sustainable Urbanism” is an expert on implementing change “from room to region” Farr participated on the Core Committee at USGBC to develop the current LEED rating system, and also has no less than seven LEED Platinum building projects to his firm’s credit.
Daniel Hernandez is the Managing Director of Planning for the national Jonathan Rose Company, and has more than 20 years experience in successful real estate planning and development. Based in New York, he is a member of the Board of Directors for Smart Growth America. Hernandez is a frequent lecturer, a former professor at the Yale School of Forestryand Environmental Studies, and is currently a faculty member at the Pratt Institute.
David W. Kitchens, AIA, of Cooper-Carry in Alexandria, VA. Kitchen’s work includes Bethesda Row in Bethesda, Maryland, awarded the Best Block in America 2002 by The Congress for New Urbanism, the Excellence Award from theUrban Land Institute and the Maryland/DC NAIOP Award of Excellence for Best Smart Growth Master Plan.
Joongsub Kim, PhD, AIA, AICP is an associate professor on the faculty of the College of Architecture and Design at Lawrence Technological University; he coordinates The Detroit Studio, a college-based community outreach program.
Sam Butler is currently a Planning and Technical Program Manager at Michigan Community Resources (MCR). Butler co-authored the Neighborhood Revitalization Strategic Framework published by the Community Development Advocates of Detroit (CDAD) where he currently serves as the chair of the Strategic Framework Committee. Mr. Butler and Mr. Kim will share their experiences and expertise related to the development of typologies for the City of Detroit, and the development of future design guidelines.
The Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Neighborhood Development (ND) rating system pioneered by the US Green Building Council is the result of years of discussion and crafting of careful language—in collaboration with the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), to develop a method for rating the quality of urban designs and plans. This rating system is comprised of three primary categories – Smart Location & Linkages (SLL); Neighborhood Pattern & Design (NPD); and Green Infrastructure & Buildings (GIB).
This USGBC-DRC 2012 LEED ND Forum, June 8 at Henry Ford Community College, offers a pivotal opportunity to facilitate a positive exchange of ideas and innovation within the Metro Detroit building community. It is a very productive investment of time for anyone in the planning, design and construction professions.
Date: 8:00 AM-5:00 PM Friday, June 8th, 2012
Location: Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn, MI
Cost: $75.00 (Returning ND Forum I attendees – $45.00)
Online Registration Required: LEED ND Forum II Registration at www.usgbcdetroit.org
USGBC-DRC Office 248-233-0006, Media Contact: Nancy Phares, Media Alchemy, LLC 248.486.3424 office 248.390.7340 cell
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Source: USGBC / Robert Prud’homme, Chair – LEED Neighborhood Circle at the DRC-USGBC