Note from PlannersWeb Editor Wayne Senville:

We’ll be reporting from the International Making Cities Livable (IMCL) Conference in Portland from June 23rd to 27th — and hope to meet some of you there!

I’m setting out below some information about the Conference, posted by Suzanne H. Crowhurst Lennard, Ph.D., Director of the IMCL Council:

There was a time when the suburbs offered a healthy alternative to living in polluted industrial cities. Times have changed. Sprawling and fragmented suburbs where distances are too great and streets are too dangerous have significantly contributed to our massive problems of obesity, chronic physical ill health, social isolation, violence and crime.

We must act now to adopt healthy, equitable planning practices for reshaping suburbia. Our children and elders, those who are disabled or poor especially need the suburbs to be healed. The good news is that some of the most exciting urban design projects today – transformations of shopping malls into mixed use town centers, transit-oriented development, neighborhood plazas and green streets – are taking place in the suburbs.

We welcome your participation, to share your achievements, to learn from others, and to help guide this process! Join world-renowned experts, national and international leaders who will examine the environmental causes of our suburban health problems, present multi-disciplinary insights, and the planning, urban design, landscape, and organizational tools available to reshape our fragmented and sprawling suburbs.

Exemplary suburban projects, healthy planning models, and community development strategies will be discussed. The City of Portland will share their experience in making Portland’s suburban neighborhoods healthy, sustainable and livable for all. Awards will be presented for inspiring examples of suburban infill development; transformations from shopping malls and strips into mixed-use town centers; new neighborhood plazas; suburban green places; and healthy 10-minute neighborhood planning.

The conference will bring together 350-400 delegates – elected officials, practitioners and scholars in planning, public health, urban design, landscape architecture, transportation planning, pediatrics, human development, social sciences, land use development and architecture from around the world.

For more about the Conference, including registration information.