The 12th annual version of this national, multi-disciplinary, smart growth conference makes its way to America’s heartland – Kansas City, Missouri, running February 7-9, 2013, at the Kansas City Convention Center.

The conference’s trip to the Midwest underscores an expansive diversity ripe for innovative smart growth strategies and opportunities – for industrial big cities, suburban neighborhoods, small towns and rural agriculture, stretching across the Great Plains to the Great Lakes. Home to industrial giants, thriving small businesses and a rich history of agricultural life, the core of the American vision is still here in these Midwest communities, challenging us to take smart growth to new places.

This year’s engaging pre-conference events, exciting tours of model projects and in-conference networking forums make this “more than a conference.” And the conference program itself has nearly 100 diverse, cutting-edge sessions spanning three full days.

SIGN UP NOW: Register online before the January 18 deadline. The special $119 room rate at the Marriott KC Downtown Hotel is only available until January 14.

BE PART OF THE SOLUTION: In addition to the networking opportunities at the event, the New Partners conference invites you to join EnvisionSustainableCommunities.com, a new public engagement website created by MindMixer, and powered by the ideas of engaged people like you. Ideas from you and your neighbors will guide this annual conference series and provide a forum for communities to share their success stories of overcoming challenges, implementing smart growth practices and creating more sustainable, healthy, equitable and prosperous communities. The site launches on December 10, so stay tuned!

TIMELY PLENARIES: Reflecting the country’s desire for sensible, bipartisan solutions for economic recovery and stronger communities, the New Partners conference offers timely plenary presentations, including “Why Leave It to the Liberals? Conservative Views on Smart Growth;” “Smart Growth and Your Tax Dollar;” and “A Governor’s View on Smart Growth – from Both Sides of the Aisle.”

GET ENGAGED: Take a stroll through the conference’s Technology Fair, and try out cutting-edge tools for scenario planning and public engagement and talk to leading tool users and developers about how to put these tools to work for you – like mapping and alternative analysis tools to aid planning, 3-D visualization, and online tools and mobile apps to engage stakeholders typically not reached through public meetings.

TAKING THE PARKLET INDOORS: The conference will showcase five parklet model experiences inside the Convention Center, to demonstrate for participants what a parklet is, and how it can transform a couple of under-utilized parking spaces into exciting opportunities for creating more vibrant (parking) spaces in your community.

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP ON EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT: Get started a day early… “Sustainable Neighborhoods, Thriving Residents: Strategies for Building Equitable Communities” — a half-day workshop scheduled for Feb. 6 — See how communities across the country are knitting together housing, transportation and infrastructure improvements with business development, job training and other programs are providing new opportunities in places that have faced disinvestment, poverty and unemployment in the past. Learn about specific tools and approaches you can use to strengthen small local businesses and multicultural commercial districts and keep them from being displaced during revitalization. Visit the Special Features page of the conference website to get more details on this dynamic workshop. ($18 registration fee)

15 WAYS TO SEE SMART GROWTH IN THE KC REGION: Don’t just talk about smart growth – come to the conference and see it! Beyond the great sessions, New Partners offers 15 optional tours of local model projects on Thursday morning and afternoon – and Sunday morning, if you want to stay an extra day. The tours explore global trade, urban farming, fast buses, solar installations, what to do with rain, artistic infrastructure, and innovative redevelopment in older suburbs and green zones. Take a walk around KC’s Downtown, check out food trucks and fun in the Power & Light District, or catch a little jazz at 18th & Vine.

GET LOTS OF CREDIT: We expect most of the conference sessions to be approved for accreditation for several professions: AICP planners, landscape architects and architects. Check the website in the coming weeks for details about which sessions have been accredited for which designations.

See the New Partners for Smart Growth conference website at www.NewPartners.org

For more information contact:
Michele Warren, Local Government Commission
, 1303 J St., Suite 250, Sacramento, CA 95814 USA
phone: 916-448-1198 x 308; email: [email protected]