Co-located conferences hope to draw multidisciplinary crowd
As more people commit to the idea of sustainability, populations shift back to urban centers, where residents are demanding more “green” and livable communities. More people care about the impact their lives have on the environment and, because city residents have a smaller ecological footprint, many are moving back into cities, said Tim Dekker, chair of the Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.) Urban River Restoration 2010 specialty conference. These individuals also are demanding more green space and interaction with the environment in urban centers, he added.
| A rendering from the Don River project. Photo property of Waterfront Toronto works. Click for larger image. |
These two trends make WEF’s co-located specialty conferences Cities of the Future 2010 and Urban River Restoration 2010 relevant and timely topics, Dekker said. “We think the timing is right,” he noted. “There really seems to be an interest in urbanism in the United States. As people move back into the cities, they want the cities to be a more livable, habitable place.” Because many cities are located near waterways, restoration of rivers plays a large part in this revitalization of the environment in cities, he added.
Historically, waterways were used as a dumping ground for trash and wastewater, rivers were channeled or covered, and focus was shifted away from waterways. “A lot of urban development adjacent to cities turned its back on the river,” Dekker said. “These days, there’s a movement in landscape architecture to turn cities around and make buildings face the waterways again and encourage human use of the waterways.”
While there are similarities in both the Urban River Restoration and Cities of the Future conferences, the two approach the issues differently, Dekker said. The Urban River conference will take a water-based look at sustainable cities, while Cities of the Future will take a land-based look at these cities. Waterfront redevelopment in cities often depends on first solving any contamination and pollution problems found in the waterway, he added. Restoring urban waterways requires considering flooding patterns, ecology, water quality, and sediment quality. Sessions that fall under the Urban River Restoration conference banner will discuss urban waterway components; remediation, cleanup, and restoration techniques; technical challenges and solutions to cleaning up rivers; case studies; physical constraints; engaging the public and setting objectives; and measuring the value of urban river restoration.
In Dekker’s opinion, one of the most interesting components of the conference is the workshops. “I really would emphasize the workshops,” he said. “They’ll be exciting.”
One of the conference’s workshops will be a “design charette,” in which attendees are presented with real-world problems and asked to work together to find the steps needed to reach the posed solution through using hands-on models and other tactile elements. “We’re hoping that engineers and other linear thinkers will come to that workshop and play around with those ideas,” Dekker said. One of the problems discussed in the workshop will be based on a project Dekker worked on that was his inspiration to pursue the Urban River Restoration conference.
|  | A rendering from the Don River project. Photo property of Waterfront Toronto works. Click for larger image. |
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In 2006, Dekker participated in a design competition for the redevelopment of the Don River in Toronto. Dekker, an environmental engineer, worked on a team with landscape architects, urban planners, and ecologists to create a plan to restore and revitalize the river and surrounding area, which is an urban brownfield. Dekker’s team won the competition and has been working on the project for the past 2 years.
From his personal experience on the Don River project, Dekker saw the benefits of working with professionals from different backgrounds and expertise. He decided to take his idea for a conference that discusses urban river restoration in a multidisciplinary atmosphere to WEF to make it a reality. Dekker encourages individuals of different backgrounds to attend the conference, including urban planners and developers, public works directors and city managers, architects, engineers, and political and ecological scientists.
In addition to the similarities in topics, the Urban River Restoration and the Cities of the Future conferences share a desire to draw a multidisciplinary crowd. “We’d like to have individuals within the WEF community attend that are interested in the broader issues of cities of the future … across these different discipline boundaries,” said Tom Pedersen, chair of the Cities of the Future conference.
Personally, Pedersen would like to see individuals outside the WEF community — such as social anthropologists, members of grassroots organizations, and academics — attend, he said. “We really think that by getting all of them together in a conference like this, we can really find interesting complementarities between all the different disciplines,” he noted. He also hopes to convey WEF’s commitment to looking at sustainable solutions, showing that the federation’s focus is more than just water treatment, he said.
The idea for the Cities of the Future conference originated from WEF’s sustainability task force, charged with holding a recurring conference and deciding how WEF should approach the issue, Pedersen explained. This conference is the follow-up to the 2008 sustainability conference, changing focus from sustainability to cities of the future, he added.
“Rivers are key to cities of the future,” Pedersen said. “Rivers really provide a place for communities.” City residents, businesses, and managers are recognizing that water is a resource that must be managed effectively and made accessible to people, he added.
The Cities of the Future conference will be taking a broader view of cities, not only looking at waterways and rivers but also looking at energy, transportation, and buildings. “We’re looking much more holistically at how the cities interact with the natural environment and the river,” Pedersen said. “Individuals can go and hear about the technical issues associated with restoring a river and, at the same time, they can hear planning issues of how to make the waterfront something that the community can benefit from.”
“It’s no longer this single-issue topic,” Pedersen said. Creating cities of the future that efficiently use resources requires integrating concept, design, and planning ideas using multiple stakeholders, he explained. To do this, engineers, government officials, planners, and architects must all work together. “I think what attendees at the conferences will learn … is that these issues of water and energy are integrated and cannot be separated,” he said. “And the issues of infrastructure, roads, energy, communication, [and] water really need to be thought through in an integrated holistic manner.”
| A rendering from the Don River project. Photo property of Waterfront Toronto works. Click for larger image. |
“This may be the start of really getting some integrated discussions moving forward,” Pedersen said. “I’m looking forward to this; I think we’re going to have a good turnout.”
Sessions and workshops at the conference will look at different case studies of sustainable cities and go into detail about elements of these cities. “We’ve got quite a broad range of issues being discussed,” Pedersen said. “We’ve built [the technical sessions] to address issues that we think are important for green cities going into the future.”
To Pedersen, the most important parts of the conferences are the joint opening general session and the concurrent, but not joint, closing sessions. In the opening session, keynote speaker Paul Brown will talk about the importance and elements of cities of the future and tie in urban river topics. Keynote speaker Michael Van Valkenburgh will talk about urban rivers and make the connection back to cities of the future. A panel discussion addressing issues important to both conferences will follow the opening general session.
The closing sessions are important, because individuals sitting in all of the sessions will compile their notes and bring any key issues and common themes from the conference to the closing sessions. This session overview presentation will be the jumping-off point for a discussion, Pedersen said.
“For this conference, it is important that individuals attend the opening session and the closing session, where they’ll be able to learn about those sessions that they didn’t attend,” Pedersen said. “We will have a way of getting everyone to understand at least in general terms what the key issues were that were brought up throughout the conference.” Pedersen hopes that attendees will be able to learn more about water and how to help those working with water infrastructure understand the needs for sustainable urban development, he said.
“There’s certainly a significant benefit to both conferences by having them co-located,” Pedersen said. Attendees are able to pick and choose which technical sessions from both conferences that they would like to attend. For one registration rate, attendees will be able to attend any session listed under either conference to allow attendees the ability to design their own educational experience. The conferences will be held at the Boston Marriott Cambridge from March 7 to 10. Those interested in attending can register now and save with the super saver rate by registering by Feb. 3. For more information, see Cities of the Future 2010 or Urban River Restoration 2010.