ULI Cincinnati to host Walkable Neighborhoods Conference

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) of Cincinnati has won a Community Action Grant through the ULI Foundation to host a Walkable Neighborhoods Conference on Friday, March 26th and Saturday, March 27th.  According to event organizers, the two-day conference will focus on workforce housing and the role it plays in creating walkable, livable neighborhoods.

Being held at the Duke Energy Convention Center in downtown Cincinnati (map), the Walkable Neighborhoods Conference will include panel discussions and keynote speakers including national experts and local leaders.

On Friday, the conference - which runs from 1:30pm until 6pm - will focus on defining workforce housing that creates value in neighborhoods.  Saturday, the conference shifts focus towards explaining how workforce housing will create value in the Cincinnati region, and will run from 8:30am to 11:30am.

"Communities are only complete when they have places for many different types of people (with varying degrees of income) to live in close proximity to where they work, worship, get educated and shop - or at least in close proximity to how they get to those places," said Jeff Raser, Principal of Cincinnati-based Glaserworks Mixed Use Studio.  "Yet, in too much of America our workforce, the people who are our nurses, police officers, teachers, and construction workers live so far from where they work the cost of this remoteness takes a significant bite out of their standard of living."

The ULI Foundation Community Action Grant that helped make the conference possible is awarded to communities for creative, innovative community outreach, research, or education programs.

Event organizers are encouraging community development corporations around the region to attend, but the event is open to the general public as well.  Registration for the conference costs $20 per day.  Limited on-site registration will also be available, but will cost an additional $5 per day according to organizers.

Writer: Randy A. Simes
Photography by Scott Beseler
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