Author, facilitator and planner, Daniel Iacofano, founding Principal of MIG, will be speaking at “The Forum at Redwood City: A Continuing Conversation on City Design” on WEDNESDAY, January 2, 2008, from 6:00 - 7:45pm! Don’t miss this thought-provoking presentation on “Building a healthy and inclusive City.”

Location: Historic Fox Theatre, Downtown Redwood City

American cities are doing better than they have in decades, redeveloping, renewing and becoming a choice place to live again. Currently, the focus is mainly on physical design, but behind the façade and the walls, people may actually be losing economic ground because of the lack of equity and value obtained from these changes. In fact, much building under the rubric of New Urbanism may be displacing the most vulnerable communities and reducing their opportunities.

Daniel Iacofano, FAICP, co-editor of “The Inclusive City,” will examine the tenet: When you redevelop a neighborhood, you must recognize the impacts this will have on the local inhabitants and thus develop explicit policies to allow them to share in the benefit. What types of economic, social and environmentally sensitive policies best guide development? Can we empower residents to understand and control their own futures? What is our role in developing more inclusive cities?

About Daniel Iacofano

Daniel Iacofano, Ph.D., FAICP, ASLA, is a founding principal of Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc. (MIG), with over 25 years of experience in urban planning and community design specifically for downtowns, transit-oriented development, neighborhoods and urban centers. He is nationally recognized as an expert and innovator in the areas of community participation, consensus building, and facilitation.

Dr. Iacofano’s projects have addressed the complex array of issues facing our cities and towns today, including public transit, traffic, housing, economic development, land use and regional growth. He has worked in a wide range of communities, from Downtown Los Angeles and Downtown Denver to Anchorage and Washington, DC. He has managed a wide range of studies addressing issues related to land use, growth strategies, urban development and revitalization, parks and recreation, and natural resource management. He is an expert in managing multi-disciplinary projects and developing and implementing complex stakeholder outreach strategies.

Dr. Iacofano received his Ph.D. in Environmental Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. His projects have won awards from the National League of Cities, the International Downtown Association, the American Planning Association, the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Association of Environmental Professionals. He is the author of several books including “Meeting of the Minds” and “The Inclusive City.”

About The Inclusive City

Taking issue with many environments built under the rubric of The New Urbanism, “The Inclusive City” proposes a more inclusive approach to planning that promotes social and economic equity and community development, with full interaction and accessibility for all residents.

“Planners and cities often rely on a physical-design approach,” says Berkeley-based co-editor Daniel Iacofano, Ph.D. “Inclusive design embraces New Urbanism—and then goes further. We need to move towards planning that is based on progressive economic, social, environmental and culturally sensitive policies.”

Co-editors Iacofano and Goltsman make the case that planning that focuses too heavily on physical elements such as walkability, mixed-use development and access to entertainment fails to address a wide spectrum of socially relevant issues. “The housing is expensive, the shops even more so,” they write in the introduction to “The Inclusive City.” “The people who live there don’t work there. The people who work there can’t afford to live there. Chic boutiques on the corners don’t make a social community.”

Drawing on over 50 years of innovative planning and design experience, Goltsman and Iacofano provide design criteria and illustrate their alternative vision for urban planning with in-depth analyses of 14 projects on two continents.

Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, “The Inclusive City” includes 70 detailed design guidelines and plans to promote inclusion and accessibility on a range of projects, from schools, museums and children’s zoos to play areas, trail systems and cityscapes.

About The Forum

The Forum at Redwood City is held on the first Wednesday of each month, from October through May. Communities By Design (CBD), a local nonprofit, and the City of Redwood City jointly produce the Forum, with assistance from Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc. (MIG). The fee for the Forum is $10 (payable at the door, checks or cash). The Forum is held in the historic lobby of the Fox Theatre, located at 2215 Broadway in Redwood City (map). Doors open at 5:30pm. (Please note that due to State regulations, attendance at the Fox Theatre is limited to persons over 21.) The presentation and discussion is followed by an optional, no-host dinner at a nearby restaurant in downtown Redwood City. A flier for the event is attached.

Transportation: For those arriving by car, there is plenty of parking available within a comfortable walk of the Fox Theatre (Click here for parking information). Transit is also a great option, as the Fox is also only 2 blocks from the Redwood City Caltrain Station. For Caltrain schedule information, click here. You may also click here for a map of the area.

If you need any additional information, please contact Dan Zack at the City of Redwood City at (650) 780-7363 or dzack@redwoodcity.org.

HELP US GET THE WORD OUT! Please share this information with your colleagues who might be interested in attending.

For summaries of past Forums, visit http://www.redwoodcity.org/forum

Please join us on January 2nd! Help us welcome in 2008 with this New Year’s Resolution presentation!