News
December 2007
50 years of the Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program!
Virginia Tech has provided planning education and expertise to the Northern Capital Region for 50 years through its Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program. Join the region, and Virginia Tech, in celebrating this milestone. A celebratory event will be held between 6 and 8 pm on Thursday, December 6th, at the Arlington Economic Development Office, 1100 North Glebe Road, Suite 1500, Arlington, VA 22201. If interested in attending, please RSVP to uapvt@vt.edu.
Virginia Tech Introduces Urban Planning Study Aboard Program
Students from Virginia Tech can join students from the University of Miami and Technologico de Monterrey in an in depth immersion experience in Europe. The program includes classroom discussion in Riva San Vitale, a two-day visit to Zurich, Switzerland, and two day trips to Milan, Italy. Instruction includes two three credit hour courses: "Cities, Regions and Firms: The Role of the Global Business Environment and Local Economies." (Instructor: Heike Mayer) and "The Value of Urban Design: Exploring the synergistic social and economic effects of the built environment." (Instructor: Mariela Alfonzo).
The program at a glance:
- Subject: Contemporary Europe: An International Summer program
- Dates: June 26 – July 23, 2008 (tentative)
- Credits: 6 credits at Virginia Tech
- Eligibility: Sophomores, juniors, seniors, graduate students. Open to all majors. Minimum 2.5 GPA.
- Housing: Center for European Studies and Architecture (CESA) in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland
- Costs: Program fee: $3,350 + Tuition and fees + Personal costs
For additional information, click here.
November 2007
Professor Presents to Senate Finance Committee
Heike Mayer presented to Virginia Senators on what states can do to leverage universities and R&D for economic development. To view Dr. Mayer's presentation, click here.
October 2007
Communicating with Planners
UAP introduces Urban Update, a newsletter that informs the Virginia Tech planning community of their colleagues' global, national, and local activities. The first in the series includes a description of Earthea Nance's work on restoring New Orleans, a spotlight article on MURP Graduate, Michelle Groenevelt, a note from the new UAP Chair, Jesse Richardson, and many more items. Click here to read the first in the series.
New Metropolis Lecture Series
Local Government Land Use Autonomy: Myths and Realities about Building the New Metropolis
Jesse Richardson, Associate Professor, Virginia Tech.
Carolina Valencia, PhD, Associate Director, Research, Social Compact.
What's involved: The lecture is free and open to the public and there is no need to register. Wine and cheese will be served. Listen to our podcasts! For more information, past lectures and schedule, visit our website: http://www.nvc.vt.edu/uap/courses/new_metropolis.html
About the presentation:
Debates on how to control sprawl often focus on whether state or local measures are necessary. Local governments bemoan a lack of authority to adequately control land use. This debate is especially spirited in Virginia, a state in which local governments view themselves as almost powerless. Dillon's Rule, a court rule used to interpret grants of authority from the state to the local government, is often blamed for powerless local governments. In this lecture, Professor Richardson discusses the findings of his forthcoming Brookings Institute report on measuring local government land use autonomy. Richardson presents the first attempted measure of this authority and uncovers some surprising findings. The discussion will explore the two components of local government autonomy- initiative
and immunity and classify states with respect to the authority of local governments.
About the presenter:
Jesse J. Richardson, Jr. is an associate professor in Urban Affairs and Planning at Virginia Tech and an attorney. His research focuses on local government autonomy, land conservation and water supply planning.
National Building Museum Lecture Series
Right Sizing America's Shrinking Cities through Land Banking and Green Infrastructure
Joe Schilling, Virginia Tech and the Metropolitan Institute.
Dan Kildee, Genesee County, Michigan.
About the presentation:
Joe Schilling of Virginia Tech’s Metropolitan Institute and Dan Kildee, Treasurer of Genesee County, Michigan will discuss innovative strategies employed by communities seeking to address shrinking populations and declining investments. Learn why right sizing Shrinking Cities could facilitate a new wave of smart growth strategies. Discover innovative programs that can help Shrinking Cities address the blight and decay of vacant properties that hinder their ability to fully recover. Learn how land banking, urban greening initiatives, civic engagement, and good design are essential strategies and tools to facilitate the recovery of Shrinking Cities
Do you know of a city or town that has lost significant population over the past 20-30 years? Does this community still have roughly the same physical footprint of infrastructure, housing, and buildings? Have policymakers and business leaders championed individual redevelopment projects and revitalization initiatives, but the problems of decay and blight still persist? If so, then join us for an exploration of right sizing shrinking cities….
Urban Renewal in New York
Professor Joe Schilling provided insight into comparative city development in a New York Times article on the challenges of urban renewal. For the full article, click here.
September 2007
New Metropolis Lecture Series
Asset-based development: Capturing Community Strength and Opportunity in Urban Markets
Ryan Gerety, Associate Director, Research, Social Compact.
Carolina Valencia, PhD, Associate Director, Research, Social Compact.
What's involved: The lecture is free and open to the public and there is no need to register. Wine and cheese will be served. Listen to our podcasts! For more information, past lectures and schedule, visit our website: http://www.nvc.vt.edu/uap/courses/new_metropolis.html
About the presentation:
Economic development initiatives (public and private) are driven by data. Consequently, the kind of data that is used, as well as the sources from which it comes, has a direct impact on local development. Efforts in this field can choose to take a needs-based approach or an assets-based approach. This presentation will focus on the different scenarios that emerge from each of the approaches. In addition, the researchers will talk about the benefits of implementing an asset-based approach, focusing on Social Compact’s unique research methodology designed to spur private investment in underserved and undervalued urban communities.
Social Compact (http://www.socialcompact.org/), a national not-for-profit organization based in Washington, DC, accomplishes its mission to stimulate investment in underserved communities through a variety of tools developed to accurately measure community economic indicators and provides this information as a resource to community organizations, government decision makers and the private sector. Social Compact’s primary analytic tool is the Neighborhood Market DrillDown, developed to address some of the key barriers to private investment in and around inner-city neighborhoods – namely a lack of dependable market information and negative stereotypes. The Neighborhood Market DrillDown uses numerous sources of market data to identify the fundamental business attributes and market characteristics of urban communities. Poverty and deficiency data are replaced with business indicators of market strength. Some of the best private market analysis models, designed for the suburban market, are adapted to respond to the unique characteristics of the inner-city in order to capture density, hidden populations, cash economies and micro-market development patterns that are not captured by traditional market analyses.
About the presenters:
Ryan Gerety joined Social Compact in June 2006 after completing her MA in Political Science at the University of New Mexico. Her graduate work focused on neighborhood change in Albuquerque’s downtown and Latin American political economy. During graduate school, Ryan worked as a research assistant in the Complex Adaptive Systems group at the University of New Mexico, where she modeled nonlinear dynamics in cancer and in social organization. Previously, she was a software engineer and web developer at Xynergy, Inc. Ryan holds a BA in Computer Science from the University of New Mexico.
Carolina Valencia holds a Ph.D. and a Masters Degree in Political Science with a specialization in poverty reduction from Florida International University (FIU). In her studies, Carolina has focused on strategies to combat poverty at the micro and macro level in developing and developed nations. Through this research, she became deeply involved in informal economy studies and the development of micro enterprises. Carolina holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Richmond.
August 2007
New Metropolis Lecture Series
Ed McMahon, Senior Resident Fellow at the Urban Land Institute, presented “The Dollars and Sense of Sustainable Development,” on Wednesday, August 29, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Virginia Tech’s Alexandria Center. McMahon will discussed the economic, social, and environmental benefits of green and sustainable development. The presentation, the first in Virginia Tech’s 2007-2008 New Metropolis Lecture Series, was free and open to the public. Click here to listen to the lecture on podcast.
Professor publishes guest column
Heike Mayer published a guest column about the role of universities and state R&D investments in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Click here to read the column.