Island Press Events

Events

Beyond Greenways: The Next Step for Urban Trails and Walking Routes by Robert M. Searns | An Island Press book

Engaging, Enabling, and Motivating Families and Diverse Trails Users

Thursday, September 28, 2023 - 10:00am CDT

This webinar will look at ways to expand the universe of trail visitors, considering planning, design, and messaging and discuss how welcoming more groups can build a stronger base of support by engaging a more diverse constituency of trails enthusiasts.

Presented by:

Plastic pollution

Moving from Personal Responsibility to Corporate Accountability: Plastics vs Public Health

Thursday, September 28, 2023 - 1:00pm EDT

Plastic is everywhere. The air we breathe, the foods we eat, the homes we live in, and the bodies we occupy are filled with micro- and nanoplastics. As plastic continues breaking down into tinier pieces, it infiltrates every element of our world. How is this toxin affecting our bodies and the bodies of our children?

Two-thirds of all cancer cases are linked to preventable environmental causes. Medical advances continue to improve disease treatment, yet cancer still claims the lives of one in five men and one in six women in the US. Is the rise in cancer related to a rise in plastic pollution? 

We can’t buy our ways out of the omnipresence of plastic pollution. It’s time for a different approach. One where we venture beyond personal responsibility and into the sphere of corporate accountability and political will.

Join Island Press for a conversation with Kristina Marusic, author of A New War on Cancer: The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention, and Matt Simon, author of A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies. Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics, Bennington College professor and former EPA regional administrator, will moderate and add her powerful perspective.

Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation by Danielle Arigoni | An Island Press book

Danielle Arigoni: Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation

Friday, October 6, 2023 - 12:15pm EDT

Cornell University
Milstein Hall
921 University Ave
Ithaca, NY 14850
United States

Older adults are disproportionately impacted by climate change, often accounting for the majority of disaster-related deaths, and yet they have historically been overlooked in climate resilience planning efforts. In order to better prepare for the rapid growth of this cohort — wherein by 2040, older adults will outnumber children for the first time ever — action is needed now at the community scale to reduce risks and better ensure the safety and well-being of people of all ages.

This lecture will summarize insights and findings from a new book, Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation (Island Press, October 2023), which argues that climate resilience planning must be evaluated and implemented using a lens of aging. There is a role for all sectors (housing, transportation, health care and elder care, emergency management, and more) in implementing strategies that reduce risk for the growing share of older adults in our communities and enhance resilience for all.

Beyond Greenways: The Next Step for Urban Trails and Walking Routes by Robert M. Searns | An Island Press book

QUB Planning School Lecture Series -- Beyond Greenways with Robert Searns

Tuesday, October 10, 2023 - 11:00am EDT

In Beyond Greenways: The Next Step for City Trails and Walking Routes, greenways expert, Robert Searns, makes a case for walking infrastructure that serves a more diverse array of people. He builds on the legacy of boulevards, parkways, and greenways to introduce a next generation of more accessible pathways, wide enough for two people to stroll together, that stitch together urban and suburban areas. With more trails built near neighborhoods that haven’t had access to them, more people can get around on foot, in town or further out. Searns lays out practical advice on how to plan and design them, garner community support, and get them built. Drawing inspiration from the US and abroad, he introduces two models—grand loop trails and town walks. Grand loop trails are regional-scale, 20 to 350-mile systems that encircle metro areas, running along the edges where city meets countryside. Town walks are shorter—2 to 6-mile routes in cities. Throughout, Searns presents examples that embody these ideals, from Tucson’s Turquoise Trail, created by just two people with an idea and some left-over blue paint the city had, to a more deluxe 5-mile loop in Denver, to the Maricopa trail in Phoenix, a completed 315 mile grand loop. He also envisions these trails in new places across North America.

Planners, trail advocates, community leaders and those who just want closer-in places to hike or walk will find the tools they need to develop successful and affordable plans, including how to envision them to fit various settings and strategies for implementation. Now is the time to think beyond greenways, to pursue a legacy of accessible pedestrian routes for this, and future, generations.

Robert Searns has a four-decade history of visualizing, planning, and getting trails and greenway projects built. He was Project Director of Denver’s Platte River and Mary Carter Greenways—both national-award-wining projects. He helped plan the Grand Canyon National Park Greenway, played a key role on the Memphis Wolf River Greenway, and authored the Commerce City, CO Walk, Bike, Fit Master Plan. He co-authored Greenways: A Guide to Planning Design and Development (Island Press)—published in the U.S. and China—and contributed to Greenways: The Beginning of an International Movement (Elsevier Press). He has written for Planning, Landscape Architecture, LA China, and American Trails Magazines and has served as Editor-in-Chief of Trails and Beyond Magazine. He's been a keynote speaker in the U.S. and Asia and a trainer for the U.S. National Park Service and the Urban Land Institute. He chaired American Trails and was a founder of The World Trails Network as well as being a delegate to the America’s Great Outdoors White House conclave. He resides, writes, hikes and bikes near Denver, Colorado.

Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities by Veronica Davis | An Island Press book

APBP Safety Summit with Veronica Davis Keynoting

Tuesday, October 10, 2023 - 1:00pm EDT

The Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals is excited to announce the inaugural APBP Safety Summit, a series of live education and professional development sessions that are focused on the many facets of safety in the active transportation field. Make plans to join us this October! The purpose of the APBP Safety Summit is to advance best practices to stem the tide of rising traffic fatalities, especially among the most vulnerable road users, and ensure the most effective use of unprecedented levels of safety funding.

The 2023 Safety Summit will be held virtually and will feature 12 sessions and several keynote speakers (with AICP credits) ranging from 1-2 hours each, and spread out over 6 days in October. Sessions will be held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays only.

Veronica Davis, author of Inclusive Transportationwill be a keynote speaker. 

Registration for the Safety Summit includes ALL live sessions (October 3-5 and 10-12, 2023), plus access to the full recordings through December 31, 2023. Registration rates listed are in USD.

Regular Registration: $199 Member* / $299 Non-member
Speaker Registration: $159 Member* / $239 Non-Member
Student Registration: $99 Member / $149 Non-Member

*APBP Member types: Professional, Advocate, Young Professional, Retired

Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities by Veronica Davis | An Island Press book

Veronica O. Davis on Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities

Monday, October 16, 2023 - 12:00pm EDT

How do you change a system that was never designed to be equitable? Join us on Monday, October 16 at 12:00 pm EDT with Veronica O. Davis for a virtual talk on her book, Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities.

In Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities, transportation expert Veronica O. Davis shines a light on the inequitable and often destructive practice of transportation planning and engineering. She calls for new thinking and more diverse leadership to create transportation networks that connect people to jobs, education, opportunities, and to each other.

From the Ground Up | Island Press

ULI Philadelphia + AIA Philadelphia Urban Resilience Forum

Thursday, October 19, 2023 - 12:30pm EDT

Hurricane Ida’s record flooding in 2021, summer of 2023 heat records, and record for worst urban air quality in the world on June 8, 2023, these events demonstrate that climate change is on Philly’s doorstep, and we must respond. What is Philadelphia doing to address the effects of climate change from the parcel, project, and regional scale while addressing historic environmental injustices?


Join AIA Philadelphia and ULI Philadelphia to hear about the creative ways in which our local leaders are responding with solutions that will work in our specific context.

The Urban Resilience Forum will be a half-day program with three sessions featuring guest speakers presenting case studies, moderated conversations, and audience Q&A. Following the program, continue the conversation over a networking happy hour.

Learn about Philadelphia Water Department (PWD), Trust for Public Land (TPL), and Patterson Elementary School’s collaboration to develop a storm water solution that also provides environmental justice and educational opportunities. These projects are featured in Alison Sant's book From the Ground Up: Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities, who will be moderating the panel.

Hear how commercial property owners are making investments at key moments in a building’s lifecycle to improve environmental efficiencies and drive higher returns.

Hear how local government, news outlets, state representatives, community organizers, and infrastructure design firms might approach opportunities to balance regional needs to move people and goods, improve safety, enhance neighborhoods, and decarbonize the built and transportation environment.  

Agenda 

Doors Open at 12:30 PM  

Welcome 12:45 PM  

Panel 1: 1 - 2 PM - Eco-Inclusivity: Ensuring Green Stormwater Practices Benefit All Communities

10 min break

Panel 2: 2:10 - 3:10 PM - Pivotal Points: Capitalizing on Building Milestones for Environmental Gains 

10 min break  

Panel 3: 3:20 - 4:20 PM - Collaborative Roadmaps: Engaging Multiple Stakeholders to Design and Build More Resilient Regional Transportation System 

Closing Remarks – 4:20 PM – 4:30 PM  

Networking 4:30 - 6 PM   

Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities by Veronica Davis | An Island Press book

WTS Distinguished Speaker: Veronica Davis

Thursday, October 19, 2023 - 1:00pm EDT

Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities shines a light on the inequitable and often destructive practices of transportation planning and engineering. Davis' book calls for new thinking and more diverse leadership to create transportation networks that connect people to jobs, education, opportunities, and to each other. Join 2023 WTS International's Rosa Parks Diversity Award recipient Veronica O. Davis, PE as she discusses her career and newest publication.

$35 | WTS Members
$95 | Non-members
$15 | Students

These sessions are eligible for CM credits from APA.

Rural Renaissance by L. Michelle Moore | An Island Press book

Rural Renaissance Roadshow

Wednesday, October 25, 2023 - 7:00am EDT

Bentonville
Bentonville, AR 72712
United States

Detail to be shared soon. 

Beyond Greenways: The Next Step for Urban Trails and Walking Routes by Robert M. Searns | An Island Press book

Beyond Greenways: The Next Step for City Trails and Walking Routes

Tuesday, October 31, 2023 - 1:00pm EDT

If your doorstep were a trailhead, how would you experience your city? Despite the known health benefits of walking, many people don’t have pleasant, safe places to walk because cities haven't created them.

Greenways expert Robert Searns wants to change that. He envisions communities that provide more accessible pathways, wide enough for two people to stroll together, that stitch together urban and suburban areas. He brings this vision to life in his new book, Beyond Greenways: The Next Step for City Trails and Walking Routes. During this event, Robert will discuss the tools needed to develop successful and affordable plans for more trails.

He'll include how to envision them to fit various settings and strategies for implementation while taking your specific questions.

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