National Design Conference to Explore Community Recovery

Association for Community Design

The Great Gumbo: Stirring the Pot of Community Design-will be held June 3-5, 2007 at Louisiana State University (LSU), Cook Conference Center, Baton Rouge, to address community rebuilding in the Gulf Coast and other parts of the country. This is the first joint national gathering to be organized by both the Association for Community Design (ACD) and Architects/ Designers/ Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR).

Keynote presenters include Carol Bebelle, director of Ashé Cultural Arts Center of New Orleans; Bill Stallworth, Biloxi city councilman and director of East Biloxi Coordination and Relief Center; Lolis Eric Elie, columnist for Times Picayune; Clifton James, president of the Urban Design Research Center; and Marsha Cuddeback, director, Office of Community Design and Development, LSU.

The Great Gumbo will offer a unique conference format-discussion Cafés-where conference participants can exchange ideas on topics such as community partnership networks, design-build programs, housing construction techniques, pedestrian-friendly street design, and collaborations of neighborhoods, organizations and universities. The conference schedule also includes a bus tour to recovery sites in New Orleans and a forum to discuss ways to strengthen community design & development organizations and how to engage citizens in planning and rebuilding.

The Great Gumbo is scheduled in tandem with a national conference organized by Planners Network-Race, Class and Community Recovery: From the Neighborhood to the Nation and Beyond-to be held at the University of New Orleans, May 30-June 2, 2007. Race, Class and Community Recovery will confront injustice and the failures of planning after Hurricane Katrina, and will feature the grassroots work of community-based organizations, planners and activists. Discounts are offered for dual conference registration.

Saturday evening, June 2nd, ADPSR will honor recipients of their 2006 and 2007 Lewis Mumford Awards at a gala celebration at The Maple Leaf in New Orleans, where ADPSR, ACD and Planners Network will also celebrate their 25th, 30th and 32nd anniversaries.

Conference sponsors include Enterprise Community Partners, Pratt Institute, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Planetizen, Boston Society of Architects, Designer/Builder, Shelterforce, Douglas Durst, ACORN Housing, Tulane CITY Center, New Village Press and many others.