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The 15-Minute City: Sustainable Urbanism in the Future City

2023-CxD04
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1.00 LU|HSW
4.00
Course expires on: 12/17/2026
$30
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Description

Professional dialogues about urbanism are often held back by their own toxic jargon, but Carlos Moreno’s framing of the “15-Minute City” has delivered a publicly accessible concept that has gained global traction in recent years. Cities all over the world have begun devising strategies with the framework in mind. Urban design plays a key role in moving this idea from concept to reality, with significant implications for climate action and equitable development. Designing more compact cities can cut our carbon emissions by an estimated 25 percent. This session will feature real-world applied settings for the 15-Minute City with lessons learned for other jurisdictions seeking to mobilize action for more sustainable urbanism. 

 

This session was recorded live on April 5, 2023.

Learning Objectives

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Describe a 15-minute city and the economic, environmental, and equity benefits of the approach. 

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Apply strategies that transform theoretical ideas of 15-minute cities into realty.  

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Apply lessons learned from developing case studies.     

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Understand the urban design connections to key elements that create a 15-minute city. 

Presented in partnership with Communities by Design (CxD).

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Through decades of work in hundreds of communities with tens of thousands of volunteers and citizens, CxD Design Assistance Teams have proven that communities are at the heart of solutions to the world’s most pressing issues. Donate today to support this work.

Instructors
Michael R. Davis
FAIA, LEED AP

Michael is a practicing architect and an advocate for sustainable public policy. He was 2013 President of the Boston Society of Architects and 2015-2016 Chair of the Board of Trustees of the BSA Foundation. For the American Institute of Architects, Mike currently serves as Advocacy ambassador for the National AIA Committee on the Environment and as a newly appointed member of the AIA Board Government Advocacy Committee. He participated on a national AIA Materials Knowledge and Transparency working group and was a contributing author for an April 2016 AIA sustainability white paper, "Materials Transparency and Risk for Architects”. Mike has participated on or led AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) and Sustainable Design for Resilience Team (DART) charrettes in Ithaca, NY, DeKalb County, GA, Augusta, GA, Tremonton, UT, St. Helens, OR, Louisville, KY, and Bath, ME, as well as the AIA’s first International R/UDAT charrette in Dublin, Ireland. Mike’s recent professional projects include a modular student residence hall at Endicott College, a LEED Certified facility for Hosteling International Boston in an adaptively-reused historic building, and a deep-energy retrofit of public housing units for the Boston Housing Authority at the Cathedral Family Development, which achieved LEED Platinum certification. He blogs about his firm’s work as signatory to the AIA 2030 Commitment. Mr. Davis advised the Boston Planning and Development Agency as a Member and Chair of the Boston Civic Design Commission from 1996 to 2018 and served on Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's Green Building Task Force and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s Net Zero Energy Building Taskforce. He holds a bachelor's degree in Architecture from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Architecture from Yale University

Taryn Sabia

Taryn Sabia’s fifteen-year career in architecture and urban design is anchored by a passion to involve citizens in actively shaping the built environment. Her diverse background in architecture, urban design, education, and community engagement has provided a deep understanding of the importance of context-based design, mobility, resiliency, and culture of place, and how these elements inform the design of an urban framework. Ms. Sabia is Director of the Florida Center for Community Design and Research (FCCDR) at the University of South Florida’s School of Architecture and Community Design. As a Research Associate Professor, she teaches graduate courses and studios on urban design policy, climate change and sustainability, urban form, urban transportation systems, and citizen involvement in urbanism. Her research is committed to the merging of design and civics, with a focus on climate change adaptation, transit modes and public space. She has extensive experience building partnerships between community members, organizations, and government leaders, Ms. Sabia has served as a Principle Investigator on more than 25 projects and advised numerous elected officials including 39 mayors. Ms. Sabia is a co-founder of the Tampa based non-profit, urban design collaborative, Urban Charrette, Inc. The organization is dedicated to educating community leaders and young professionals about sustainable urban design and empowering citizens to make their neighborhoods and cities better places to live. She has worked professionally in the field of architecture, facilitated over 150 public charrettes and workshops and has authored several articles about community engagement and urban design including a publication in the National Civic Review. In 2014 and 2017, Ms. Sabia led the East Regional Session Mayor’s Institute for City Design program. She has presented numerous times at national and regional conferences and has served as Chair for the American Institute of Architects’ Regional and Urban Design Leadership Group leading initiatives for the Active City Conference in 2017 and the Future of Urban Design Education Symposia.

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