Annual Smart Growth Summit returns this month

Most would agree Louisiana is in need of some serious long-term planning—now more than ever. We’ve got traffic issues, we’re last in health and well-being, we’re forever in a budget crisis, and there’s that nagging problem of coastal land loss that’s not going to stop anytime soon.

Marking its 10th year, the Louisiana Smart Growth Summit seeks to find solutions to those problems with panels, speakers and the opportunity to talk with experts in smart growth. It’s all geared toward innovative planning, design and development with about 20 talks on housing needs, green building, resiliency after disasters, walkable and healthier communities, alternative transportation and more.

The summit’s organizers, with the Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX), say interest in urban planning and smart growth has grown dramatically, especially among young professionals, in the 10 years since the summit began.

Camille Manning-Broome, CPEX senior vice president, says it used to be a hard sell to get people interested in planning discussions. “When [Hurricane] Katrina hit, there was a cultural change,” she says.

To close out the summit, this year’s keynote speaker is U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx. Other speakers include John Fregonese, who co-authored the Louisiana Speaks Regional Plan and created the FuturEBR master plan, and climate change expert Peter Calthorpe, who also co-authored Louisiana Speaks.

Fregonese will be part of panels on new approaches to housing needs and planning small and rural communities to limit sprawl, while Calthorpe will discuss tools to predict how climate change might affect growth and land use.

Other panels will discuss water management—the state doesn’t have a comprehensive water plan—and, yes, even the status on a long-term project to build a passenger rail line between Baton Rouge and New Orleans … one day.

Reach the Summit

The Louisiana Smart Growth Summit is Nov. 3-4 at the Manship Theatre. Find out more information at summit.cpex.org.