Agenda

Friday April 1st

8:30 AM	REGISTRATION
9:00 AM	WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS Graham Wilson – Director, Initiative on Cities and Professor of Political Science, Boston University Carl R. Nold – President and CEO, Historic New England
9:20 AM	MAXIMIZING GATEWAY CITY LEGACIES Representatives from MassDevelopment will discuss their Gateway Cities revitalization program, presenting case studies that help to identify opportunities for developing dynamic cities through preservation, examine the basic sources of data needed for planning, and explore the involvement of local and regional stakeholders and the extent to which redevelopment affects communities. Moderator: Karyn Gilvarg, AIA, Executive Director of the City of New Haven Plan Department Anne Gatling Haynes – AIA LEED, MBA, Transformative Development Initiative at MassDevelopment Ian Jakus – Assistant Project Manager, Transformative Development Initiative at MassDevelopment Mark Melnik – Director, Economic and Public Policy Research at the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute “Old Bones, New Reality: Visualizing the Dynamics of Gateway City Revitalization Using Innovative Place Based Data Analysis – Case Study in the Making“
10:00 AM	*BREAK*
10:20 AM	CASE STUDIES: HOLYOKE, MA AND JAMAICA PLAIN, MA Two in-depth case studies offer a detailed look at post-industrial neighborhoods in Massachusetts. Panelists will discuss how history and community dynamics have influenced planning and development in these areas, introducing what will likely be a recurring theme throughout the conference: tension between entrenched poverty and gentrification. Moderator: James Alexander, Principal at Finegold Alexander Architects Aaron Ahlstrom – PhD candidate in American and New England Studies at Boston University “Green Space and Close Quarters: Bromley Park and Housing Density in Jamaica Plain” Max Page – Professor, MS Design Program Director, Director of Historic Preservation Initiatives at University of Massachusetts-Amherst Alex B. Morse – Mayor of Holyoke, MA Intiya Isaza–Figueroa – Development Specialist at Home City Housing “Rebuilding Holyoke Through Preservation”
12:10 PM	LUNCH KEYNOTE: JOE ANDERSON, MAYOR OF LIVERPOOL, UNITED KINGDOM
1:10 PM	ENVISIONING URBAN HOUSING This panel will examine the supply and demand issues surrounding housing. It will also identify and discuss the roles played by developers and city governments in supporting and developing neighborhoods. Moderator: Albert Rex, Partner and Director of the Northeast office of MacRostie Historic Advisors LLC Daniel M. Abramson – Associate Professor, Department of Art and Art History and Director of Architectural Studies at Tufts University “Different Speeds: A History of Obsolescence and Preservation Together” Sheila Dillon – Cabinet Chief of Housing and Director of the Department of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston “City Governance and Neighborhood Development Programs in Boston” Dave Traggorth – Principal, Traggorth Companies LLC “Different Speeds: A History of Obsolescence and Preservation Together”
2:30 PM	*BREAK*
2:45 PM	CONCEPTUALIZING SUSTAINABLE FUTURES Broadening the discussion both geographically and temporally, this panel will examine urban planning for long-term environmental and social sustainability, including strategies for conservation and preservation of green space, planning for coastal cities challenged by sea level rise, and methods for evaluating the sustainability of architectural solutions. How can we balance the tension between short-term action versus long-term planning? The panel will also delve into a case study examining the densification of Seattle and the struggle of obsolescence that raised in the earlier talk: when to build new and when to re-use existing spaces and structures. Moderator: Brian Swett, Director, Cities and Sustainable Real Estate at Arup Jim Newman – Founder and Principal at Linnean Solutions Shaun O’Rourke – Green Infrastructure Director at Trust for Public Land Arlen Stawasz – Resiliency Specialist at Perkins + Will “Weaving Climate Resiliency into the Built Environment: Emerging Tools and Methods” Kathryn Rogers Merlino – Associate Professor and Director at the Center for Preservation and Reuse at University of Washington “Tactical Incrementalism: Beyond the Categorical Distinctions of Urban Preservation, Design and Sustainability”
4:05 PM	BREAK
4:15 PM	KEYNOTE MAURICE COX, PLANNING DIRECTOR, CITY OF DETROIT
5:00 PM	RECEPTION

Saturday April 2nd

9:00 AM	OPENING REMARKS
9:15 AM	PECHA KUCHA Moderator: Sally Zimmerman, Senior Manager of Historic Preservation Services, Historic New England Kathleen Mahoney – MA, Public History, University of Massachusetts Amherst “Rocky’s Folly: Modernism, Urban Renewal, and Albany’s State Plaza” Linda Williams – M. Architecture, Academy of Art University, San Francisco “North Omaha, NE: ‘An American Ghetto’” Dorothy Clark – M.A., Design Studies, Historic Preservation, Boston Architectural College “On PAR with the Past, Present and Future: Synergizing Historic Preservation and Public History” Charlette Caldwell – M.S. Historic Preservation, University of Pennsylvania School of Design “Doin’ It Up Right’: Safeguarding African American Heritage through Burial Landscape Preservation” Patrick Powers – M.S. Historic Preservation, University of Massachusetts Amherst “Preserving Diversity: Adaptive Re-Use of Horse Transportation Structures in Buffalo, New York” Jessica Cresanti-Daknis – Founder and Interior Designer at JessicaCDesigns “Atlantic Organic Markets: Resigning Atlantic City’s Segal Building”
10:15 AM	*BREAK*
10:35 AM	CONTESTING CIVIC AND PUBLIC SPACES The politics of preservation and urban renewal in civic and public space will be explored through three different lenses: the partnering of public and private enterprise in appropriating land for sports stadiums; the preservation of the status quo through architectural resistance to homeless people and housing design that polices traditional gender roles; and the friction between visions of cities based on the character engendered in traditional historic spaces and new possibilities of a modern, technological future. Moderator: Daniel Bluestone, Director, Preservation Studies Program and American & New England Studies Program at Boston University Diana Wylie – Professor, History Department and African Studies Center at Boston University “The Cube and the Skyscraper in Casablanca, Morocco’s Dream Factory” Andrew Lang – MA, History of Museum Science at SUNY Oneonta “‘O’Malley’s Pleasure Dome:’ The Modern Stadium, Urban Renewal, and the American City, 1947-1957” Jacqueline Brandon – MA, History of Women and Gender at NYU “Architecture of Containment: Gender Production and Resistance in the Public Housing of Post-war New York”
11:45 – 12:15 PM	LUNCH
12:15 PM	LUNCHTIME MAYOR’S ROUNDTABLE Moderator: Robin Ried, Manager of Urban Planning Practice at Bloomberg Associates Karl Dean – Former Mayor of Nashville, TN and Mayor-in-Residence, Boston University Initiative on Cities Kimberley Driscoll – Mayor of Salem, MA Annise Parker – Former Mayor of Houston, TX and Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University Dan Rivera – Mayor of Lawrence, MA
1:25 PM	REVITALIZING COMMERCIAL ZONES Vibrant commercial districts are critical to urban success. How does the character of a city or neighborhood become fixed? How is that character preserved and packaged for consumption: what consideration, if any, is lent to cultural preservation? And who are the constituents involved in the decision-making process? Moderator: Marianne Paley Nadel, Foudning Executive Director at Groundwork Lawrence and Owner/Manager of the Everett and Stone Mills Anthony Flint – Fellow and Director of Public Affairs at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy “Tensions within Neighborhood Character and Preservation Urban Economies” Taylor Cain – PhD candidate, Sociology at Boston University “Backstage on Main Street: The Organizational Mechanics of a Neighborhood’s Commercial Revitalization – (Boston)” Meredith Wilson – MS, Historic Preservation at Clemson University “Can the Center Hold?: Grappling with the Decline of a Small-City Downtown, in Meridian, Mississippi”
2:45 PM	BREAK
3:00 PM	COMMODIFYING HERITAGE The final panel will go deeper into the commodification of heritage by presenting the outcomes of landmarking and historic districts on particular communities. Panelists will discuss the tension between the commercial benefits of tourism, including the increase of land value and the attraction of a young and vital workforce, and the increased rigidity of regulation and the possibility of gentrification. Moderator: George Born, PhD candidate, American & New England Studies Program at Boston University Emily Goldman – PhD candidate, City and Regional Planning at Cornell University “Social Dimensions of Twenty-first Century Preservation: Brooklyn, New York” Paimann K. Lodhi – AICP, Vice President of Urban Planning at the Real Estate Board of New York “Historic Preservation, Affordable Housing and Demographics in New York City”
4:10 PM	*CLOSING REMARKS* Daniel Bluestone – Professor of History of Art & Architecture and Director of the Preservation Studies Program, ANESP at Boston University

This event is co-sponsored by the Boston University Initiative on Cities, the Boston University American and New England Studies Program, and Historic New England.