Exporting Sustainability

A shameless plug for a fantastic upcoming workshop/summit this summer. If you want to travel and learn from the lessons of the Portland region, get some credit, and interact with other professionals around sustainability - this is not one to miss. Oh, and you get to hang out with me, too... :)

Sustainability in the Urban Built Environment
To: Early-Invitation Thought Leaders
Re: Leadership Summit: Sustainability in the Urban Built Environment

Cities like yours across the country and around the world are recognizing the sustainability imperative. This spells opportunity for professionals with the skills, experience, and genuine commitment to get results. At the same time, current sustainability approaches have not adequately addressed the dramatic challenges communities and professionals will face in the near future.

Starting this summer, experts from business, universities, government and non-governmental organizations will meet to face these challenges. This unique program – part summit, and part educational retreat – will bring together architects, developers, engineers, construction managers, public officials and planners, lawyers, researchers, professors, and environmental experts. Joining them will be top graduate students who will add fresh perspectives and provocative questions to the forum. Attendance is limited to 20 leading professionals, and 20 top students.

Portland has earned a reputation of leadership in sustainability, but behind the curtain stands a living laboratory of successes, failures, and on-going experiments. In this rich environment, each day of the program will be packed with challenging, interactive learning. Over half of this curriculum and interaction will take place in the field.

:: Learn from innovators in four sectors: business, government, academia, and not-for-profit.
:: See new sustainable design principles at work in a revealing mix of commercial, industrial, residential, and infrastructure projects.
:: Join other leaders in dynamic case-study discussions of these examples and their application to your own opportunities.

What you will bring home:
:: The latest approaches to improving sustainability in the urban built environment.
:: Methods to make the case for sustainability in a range of different projects.
:: Direct input on situations you are facing in your community or projects. (The last day will feature a multi-disciplined team of experts assembled to address your challenges.)
:: Powerful tools and models, with strategies to apply them to your projects.
:: Connections with a network of fellow thought-leaders, including the presenters and program participants, facilitated by on-going online resources.

Portland, Oregon
July 21 - 24, 2008

$3,900 per professional. $12,000 per qualified city team of 3-5 participants.*
Lunch and local travel expenses are included. Hotel discounts have been arranged.
For more information, visit SummerSustainabilitySeries.org.


Presented by
The Oregon Business Council and the Oregon University System, in affiliation with Gerding Edlen Development.

* Qualified city teams include 3-5 professionals from three key categories: 1-2 public sector participants (elected official, city planner, development officer, etc.); 1-2 developers/investors; 1-2 designers (architect, engineer, etc.); up to two others (construction, transit, natural resources, public health, academia, NGO’s, etc.)