Excellence in Planning Speaker Series
The Montgomery County Planning Board’s Excellence in Planning Speaker Series provides a forum for forward-thinking views on land-use planning. With guest speakers invited from model communities throughout the nation, the series offers a bridge to the latest, most innovative techniques on planning issues. The public is invited to join the board to hear about such issues as encouraging the best urban design, innovative zoning tools, ways to strengthen neighborhoods, transportation solutions and more. Unless otherwise noted, all speaking events will be held at Park and Planning headquarters.
Spring 2008: Focus on Housing
To engage the public in a discussion of housing issues, the spring 2008 track will bring experts to speak about housing and its connection to a variety of planning issues as the board as considers updates to the housing section of the General Plan. The housing policy update will be the board’s first since 1993. Read the press release.
April 24
Marina Khoury, AIA, Director of Town Planning, Duany Plater-Zyberk (DPZ)
Marina Khoury is an expert in traditional neighborhood development and form-based codes and speaks on issues related to creating affordable, sustainable, walkable communities. A licensed architect, she is the director of town planning at the firm of Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company (DPZ) and leads the Washington D.C. office. Khoury manages new town plans and urban redevelopment plans in the United States, Canada and Europe. She is also the DPZ project director for Miami 21, an initiative which is rewriting the City of Miami's current zoning code into the largest-known application of a form-based code. Khoury holds two masters degrees, in architecture and urban planning, from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Khoury also attended the “Ecole Speciale D'Architecture” in Paris, France. She joined DPZ in 1997. Prior to that, she worked as an architectural designer for the firm of Portuondo Perotti Architects in Coral Gables, Fla. Ms. Khoury will discuss approaches to ensuring design excellence in housing.
May 8
Margery Austin Turner, Director of the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center, Urban Institute
Turner is a noted researcher and analyst or urban and regional planning issues. She’s one of the authors of the “Housing in the Nation's Capital” series of research report. The 2007 report is the sixth in a series of annual reports about housing in the Washington metropolitan region. It assembles and analyzes the most current data on housing conditions and trends in the District of Columbia and the surrounding suburbs. The 2006 report focused on linkages between housing and schools in the District of Columbia and the metropolitan region; the 2007 report took a regional perspective, examining how the region addresses housing for special needs populations. More specifically, the 2007 report assessed the housing options and services available to the elderly, disabled, and homeless and explored the consequences and opportunities for housing policy across the region.
May 22
Bernadette Hanlon, Research Analyst, Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Hanlon is a doctoral candidate in public policy and holds two Master’s degrees in policy sciences and in philosophy. She’ll discuss her recent research on urban and suburban development, and indicators of neighborhood success and decline.
May 29
Christopher B. Leinberger
Chris Leinberger is a land use strategist, and developer who focuses on alternative methods of building the built environment. He is currently a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, doing research and developing strategies for creating “walkable urban” places, and creating strategy and management models for metropolitan areas. He’s also a professor of practice, director of the Graduate Real Estate Development Program at the University of Michigan, and a founding partner of Arcadia Land Company, a progressive real estate development firm.
June (TBD)
Isabelle Gournay and Ralph Bennett, architects and professors at the University of Maryland
Professors Gournay and Bennett curated the “Affordable Housing: Designing an American Asset” exhibition -- originally for the National Building Museum in 2003 -- and now returning to the University of Maryland April 2 to May 14. They will discuss changes in the affordable housing landscape since the show was first assembled. They will also discuss issues such as the challenge of a local housing market that does not support innovative design and how projects from previous generations are still viable today and can still provide lessons for planning and design.
June 26
Arthur C. Nelson, Ph.D., FAICP, Director, Metropolitan Institute, Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Dr. Nelson will present findings of his work assisting the Planning staff in developing an affordability index that includes both housing and transportation costs.
Previous 2008 Speakers
March 20
David Rusk, Consultant
David Rusk is an independent consultant, who’s worked with more than 120 communities to analyze urban problems such as housing inequities. His presentation looked at how Montgomery County’s housing policies— which is considered among the most advanced in the country — could better meet the challenges that lie ahead as the county continues to grow and become more diverse.
March 12
Roger Lewis, Architect, professor and author
Roger Lewis, a noted architect, a fellow at the American Institute of Architects and professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, helped launch the Planning Department's comprehensive look at ways to incorporate high-quality design throughout its work. Lewis' public seminar kicked off a series of hands-on staff workshops that will examine ways to elevate design in all types of neighborhoods - from central business districts to the corridor cities in northern Montgomery County.
Check also the "2007 Excellence in Planning Speaker Series".
Date of last update: April 24, 2008
