Keynote Speakers

December 7, 2015

Friday, March 11 at 8:00 a.m.
Main Ballroom

Brian Payne, Founder and Artistic Director of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene and Marilyn Glick, will explain how this artfully designed and beautifully landscaped eight-mile urban bicycle and pedestrian pathway came to fruition and became one of the most successful and critically-acclaimed active transportation projects in the world.

He will describe how he and his volunteer partners raised the $27.5 million of private philanthropic investment and $35.5 million in federal transportation grants, including $20.5 million from the first round of TIGER funding. The $63 million Cultural Trail connects to every significant arts, cultural, heritage, sports and entertainment venue in Indianapolis thriving downtown. It also acts as the downtown hub for central Indiana’s greenway trail master plan. Brian will outline the hundreds of millions of dollars of new development on the Cultural Trail and share a recent economic development study that is highlighted by how property values on the Trail have increased by one billion dollars. This study can be a powerful tool nationally to persuade unconvinced city officials of the immense popularity and power of pedestrian and bicycle trails.

Learning objectives for this session are to explain how to create a successful private-public partnership, recognize how making a vision bigger can ensure greater investment and success and Identify how to take inspiration from projects around the world and then make them unique and authentic in your own community.

Brian Payne is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail and the President and CEO of the Central Indiana Community Foundation. He is a highly sought out speaker about City Livability, Connectivity, Place-Making and the importance and power of Parks and Trails. He has been a featured speaker in dozens of national and regional conferences in the US and Canada including CEOs for Cities, American Planning Association, the Calgary City Center Conference, The Larger Community Foundations, Council on Foundations and the United Way. He has shared his inspirations and lessons learned from the Cultural Trail with leaders of dozens of American Cities, and leaders in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Cologne, Calgary and Toronto. In Indiana, he has received the Mike Carroll Award for Civic Leadership, the Indiana Citizen Planner of the Year, and has been named one of the most powerful Hoosiers in the world and an Indiana Living Legend.

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December 7, 2015

Keynote Speaker: Pascal van den Noort

Thursday, March 10 at 6:00 p.m.
Main Ballroom

Pascal J.W. van den Noort is a conceptual thinker and Executive Director of Master Plan BV with brands like Velo Mondial, Velo.Info, Pas-Port to Mobility, Pas-Port to Cycling, Amsterdam Taxi Award, ‘Low Lijn, Water Walking Path and Hanging Gardens’. Prior to his work in bicycling, Pascal was a leader on the global healthcare scene, specifically focusing on solving the aids crisis. That experience prepared him for the work he would do to make “bikenomics” a household word in Europe.

Mr. van den Noort has successfully taken his bikeonomics message to many European cities including Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, Bucharest,Funchal, Gdansk, Gothenburg, Ploiesti, and Rome. All of his programs focus on sustainable urban mobility planning and how cycling planning is a big part of it. In his latest publication “Cycling on the Rise” he discusses how cycling was not always the “hot mode of transport” as it is today in many parts of the European Union. Pascal left his imprint in the U.S. by organizing the “New Amsterdam Bike Slam”. In his many other publications, he has written about vulnerable road users, success factors for cities, bike sharing guidelines, and how private investment can be maximized.

Pascal is a very sought after moderator and seminar/ conference chair who brings his personal, very attendee-focused, and interactive approach. This makes formal meetings friendly, creating, a sense of togetherness. Attendees can expect to interact with Mr. van den Noort and envision how bicycling can help their city be more socially cohesive, economically prosperous, and environmentally sound.

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December 7, 2015

Keynote Speaker: Van Nguyen

Thursday, March 10 at 12:00 p.m.
Main Ballroom

The Wild West: Can Cities in the American West be Livable?

Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Denver, Los Angeles…the list goes on. Great cities, big cities that were built in the era of automobiles. In the 1950’s a car could take a businessman from his downtown office building to a quiet, leafy street in the distant suburbs in less than 20 minutes. A new house and a big yard had a lot to offer compared to a cramped, noisy, rundown apartment in the city, But now that 20 minute commute has become 90 minutes, parking is expensive and smaller families with two working parents are more likely to eat out than cook big meals every night. Now affluent millennials are flocking to inner cities that were deserted by their parents and grandparents in the late 20th century. Neighborhoods like Over the Rhine in Cincinnati that were vacant and dangerous 15 years ago, are now vibrant with restaurants, microbreweries, bars and galleries. How can transportation change to make these “new” cities more livable? What about Western cities that were built for cars? Can they develop neighborhoods in areas where neighborhoods never existed or were destroyed? Is this urbanization just a phase or a long term lifestyle change and what are the implications for transportation planners?

Van Nguyen is President and CEO of Tempo Bicycles, an innovator of human-powered personal mobility and an advocate of healthy and sustainable everyday living. Designed with the needs of commuters in mind, Tempo hybrid bikes let you travel farther and faster than conventional bikes while still providing health benefits of cycling. Tempo hybrid bicycles enable more people to bike and help people to bike more often.

At Tempo, they believe that we can make our cities more livable by enabling everyone to embrace a lifestyle change that not only benefits them, but also their communities and the environment. Their mission is to empower everyone to live a healthier and greener lifestyle by making bicycling more enjoyable every day.

Ms. Nguyen will share her personal passion for active, sustainable transportation, provide insights into this mega trend and discuss the trails related policy/operational issues we all need to consider if we are to be prepared for it.

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December 7, 2015

Keynote Speaker: Margaret Lamar

Wednesday, March 9 at 12:00 p.m.
Main Ballroom

How are we going to imagine our cities in the next twenty years? As Texas becomes more urban, integrating nature into our cities for the well-being of whole communities will be key. Children today are suffering from unprecedented stress, inactivity, and related health issues such as obesity and cardiovascular disease. This is happening at a time when children are spending more than 60 hours per week indoors with electronic media and less than 30 minutes in active outdoor play. How can our streets, green corridors, waterways, and trails serve to address these pressing issues that will affect not only public health, but also the economic prosperity of our state?

Transportation has an important role to play as part of a citywide system to make places where all children and families have equitable and abundant access to active outdoor time in nature and green space. We will review the most recent scientific research and emerging promising practices from across the U.S. We will review innovative and evidence-based policies, partnerships and programs that can guide statewide actions in creating healthy communities rich in nature.

Learning objectives for this session include understanding the most recent research on children’s health and the effects of nature and green space on wellness, connections between transportation, health, nature. and physical activity; and actions that they can take in their organizations to create nature-rich community places.

Margaret is the of Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Children & Nature Network (C&NN) where she works in target communities across the U.S. to connect outdoor learning and play with the goals of achieving health and wellness for children. Across the U.S., she promotes cross-sector community planning to increase equity in access to urban green space. Margaret designs initiatives that seek to improve outdoor physical activity, mental health, educational performance, and healthy lifestyles for children and families. Currently she is directing 3 national C&NN initiatives: Cities Connecting Children to Nature, a partnership with the National League of Cities to support city leadership in policy planning to create nature-rich cities; Green Schoolyards for Healthy Communities, an initiative which is scaling green schoolyards in low-income communities; and the C&NN Natural Library Project, a national demonstration project to connect urban library programming with park engagement, environmental literacy and youth leadership. Prior to her work at Children & Nature Network, she was the Education Director at Houston Wilderness and spent 23 years addressing educational disparities in K-12 education with large-scale literacy and science programs across the U.S. She lives and works in San Antonio with her family and manages her ranch in Brenham.

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December 1, 2015

Keynote Speaker: Daniel S. Iacofano, PhD, FACIP, FASLA

Thursday, March 10, 8:00 am,
Main Ballroom

re:Streets: Reclaiming America’s Streets to Promote Active, Healthy Living

As a public resource that covers about 30% of the land area in the average American city, streets are an underutilized resource in every community. re:Streets broadens the Complete Streets concept to describe how the function of streets can be expanded to create a vibrant and healthy community.

Streets take up about 30% of the land area in the average American city. Many residents do not have access to transportation, space for recreation and community gathering or convenient access to healthy foods. Why not use streets to promote active living and healthy communities instead of just for driving?

This session explores the future of America’s streets based on the results of re:Streets — a three-year research effort funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. re:Streets is a fundamental rethinking of America’s streets based on the most recent research on street design — including design charrettes held across the country involving hundreds of multidisciplinary professionals.

Daniel S. Iacofano, PhD, FACIP, FASLA, will explore the nine functions of well-designed streets, including multimodal mobility, social gathering, commerce, events and programs, play and recreation, urban agricultural, wayfinding, green infrastructure and community identity. He will share design guidelines for revitalizing our streets, including low or no cost ideas that can be immediately implemented and web resources available to everyone at www.restreets.org. Case studies will demonstrate the economic potential of streets and their role in promoting active, healthy living. re:Streets has exceeded expectations, mobilizing hundreds of professionals across the country to redesign streets as public spaces that meet human needs and contribute to public health and economic revitalization of our communities. These projects include implemented, built streets nationwide — from Texas to California.

Learning Objectives for this session are:

Discuss ways that streets can function beyond mobility to promote active living and healthy communities.
Use the online web resource, www.restreets.org, to learn about innovations in street design that are replicable and implementable by public works departments, departments of transportation (DOTs) and local activists.
Identify one action that each participant will take to implement re:Streets concepts in their community.

During the keynote presentation, participants will have the opportunity to 1) discuss ways in which streets can meet the nine functions outlined in re:Streets with another participant; 2) use their cell phone to explore the re:Streets online design manual (www.restreets.org); and 3) list one action they will take to implement re:Streets concepts in their community and share this with another participant/small group.

Daniel S. Iacofano, PhD, FACIP, FASLA has more than 30 years of experience in urban planning and community design, specifically for downtowns, transit-oriented development, neighborhoods and urban centers. He is nationally recognized as an expert and innovator in the areas of community participation, consensus building and facilitation. Daniel’s diverse projects have addressed such issues as transportation, housing, economic development, land use and regional growth.
Mr. Iacofano was intimately involved in the creation of the Downtown Dallas 360 plan and has worked in a wide range of communities from Downtown Los Angeles and Downtown Denver to Anchorage and Washington, D.C. He is a leader in the national re:Streets effort, exploring the future of streets and what America’s roadways would be like if they were designed for living, instead of just driving.

Daniel profile photo His professional involvements include membership in the American Society of Landscape Architects and American Planning Association, being a fellow at the American Institute of Certified Planners, and a former board member and officer of Environmental Design Research Association. He is a member of the Association of Environmental Professionals, California Redevelopment Association, and the International Association for the Study of People and Their Physical Surroundings (IAPS). Mr. Iacofano, PhD, FACIP, FASLA is a visiting lecturer for the Urban Studies Program at Stanford University & Landscape Architecture Program, University of California, Davis. His work has been recognized by the National League of Cities, The International Downtown Association, and The American Planning Association and the American Society of Landscape Architects.

He is author of Public Involvement as an Organizational Development Process (Garland Publishing 1990) and Meeting of the Minds: A Guide to Successful Meeting Facilitation (MIG Communications 2002) and co-editor of The Inclusive City (MIG Communications 2007).

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