Indianapolis Hobnob 2009
On September 3, 2009, I attended the Chamber of Commerce's Indianapolis Hobnob (Event flyer). Typically the hobnob is a chance for people to interact with their elected/appointed representatives by sharing a social hour and listening to grandiose political speeches. This year, however, was an "off-election" year which only occurs once every 12 years, so political campaigns took a backseat.
The chamber of commerce took this opportunity to host a conference on policy issues instead. The program started off with a keynote address by Jeff Speck. Mr. Speck is one of the new urbanists working with Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and along with DPZ was co-author of the book Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream (Amazon listing here).
In addition to the keynote address, there were breakout sessions, a panel discussion, and the hobnob reception. Overall, I thought the event was very successful at bringing together people who are interested in policy changes. However, it did not appear to be successful at bringing in new people who were not already interested in such events.
Keynote Address
The keynote address by Jeff Speck (website) was outstanding, a copy of the presentation is avaiable here. In fact, most of the presentations have been put online for public access, see the Indianapolis Hobnob 2009 for more information. The keynote really did a fabulous job of showing how policy affects cities, and why it ends up ruining our quality of life.
I ended getting a copy of his book (he was signing copies at the event) and now that I am mostly through it I can honestly say that this book deserves to be read by anyone interested in urban policy, walkability, transit/transportation issues, or real estate development. Much of the photos in the presentation are explained in detail in the book, and reading it has been a great use of my time. There are also some great quotes in the book such as "Fighting congestion by adding lanes is like fighting obesity by loosening your belt." It is full of insight and witty observations.
Breakout session #1: Transit Oriented Development
This session focused on how transit oriented development gives an opportunity for cities to reclaim the urban dream. It also gives citizens a choice about their lifestyle. Instead of endless sprawl, people can live in dense pockets of walkable, urban environments. They are freed from the expenses of car ownership by mass transit.
In contrast to the typical nay-sayers who claim TOD is unsuccessful at its goals, this session did provide evidence that TOD residents do use their autos much less, and that the subsidies for the TOD's do provide benefits worth their cost. There has been no presentation file uploaded on the host site, but here are two links to investigate:
Transit-Oriented Development Wikipedia
Ballston neighborhood Wikipedia
Breakout session #2: Green Redevelopment
This session focused on the redevelopment of Fall Creek Place, a formerly blighted neighborhood that is seeing a lot of redevelopment efforts. The design & construction team, along with the city of Indianapolis official in charge of the project, led the presentation discussing the challenges and opportunities presented.
I enjoyed both sessions, but it is clear that there needs to be some changes to the land-use policies currently in place before these types of developments become common. There is just so many variances and excessive red-tape involved with this construction. Even the simple act of replacing like-for-like in Fall Creek Place involves a special initiative with the city government.
Panel Discussion
The end of the conference was a 5 person panel discussion involving Jeff Speck and some local leaders. This part of the conference was unscripted, so there is no document to refer to. The questions were submitted by the attendees of the breakout sessions and of the keynote. Unfortunately, it became clear that our elected representatives did not have a thorough background or understanding of the policies being considered and debated in the conference. Being politicians, they appreciated what the audience wanted to hear but I was not convinced they knew how to get from here to there without seriously studying up on the issues.
Hobnob Social Hour
Most of the breakout sessions were lightly attended, but once the drinks and food were set up the place was instantly full and buzzing with people and conversation. I suppose if you want to attract politicians and public servants then hosting a party with free food and drinks is a good way to start.
The social event was held adjacent to the Canal in the Indiana State Museum. It was great fun, and I had the opportunity to meet and discuss the day's presentations with many of the attendees. The chance to network and socialize with people interested in land-use policy was a great benefit of this event, and I hope that it is just as successful in the future.
The chamber of commerce took this opportunity to host a conference on policy issues instead. The program started off with a keynote address by Jeff Speck. Mr. Speck is one of the new urbanists working with Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and along with DPZ was co-author of the book Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream (Amazon listing here).
In addition to the keynote address, there were breakout sessions, a panel discussion, and the hobnob reception. Overall, I thought the event was very successful at bringing together people who are interested in policy changes. However, it did not appear to be successful at bringing in new people who were not already interested in such events.
Keynote Address
The keynote address by Jeff Speck (website) was outstanding, a copy of the presentation is avaiable here. In fact, most of the presentations have been put online for public access, see the Indianapolis Hobnob 2009 for more information. The keynote really did a fabulous job of showing how policy affects cities, and why it ends up ruining our quality of life.
I ended getting a copy of his book (he was signing copies at the event) and now that I am mostly through it I can honestly say that this book deserves to be read by anyone interested in urban policy, walkability, transit/transportation issues, or real estate development. Much of the photos in the presentation are explained in detail in the book, and reading it has been a great use of my time. There are also some great quotes in the book such as "Fighting congestion by adding lanes is like fighting obesity by loosening your belt." It is full of insight and witty observations.
Breakout session #1: Transit Oriented Development
This session focused on how transit oriented development gives an opportunity for cities to reclaim the urban dream. It also gives citizens a choice about their lifestyle. Instead of endless sprawl, people can live in dense pockets of walkable, urban environments. They are freed from the expenses of car ownership by mass transit.
In contrast to the typical nay-sayers who claim TOD is unsuccessful at its goals, this session did provide evidence that TOD residents do use their autos much less, and that the subsidies for the TOD's do provide benefits worth their cost. There has been no presentation file uploaded on the host site, but here are two links to investigate:
Transit-Oriented Development Wikipedia
Ballston neighborhood Wikipedia
Breakout session #2: Green Redevelopment
This session focused on the redevelopment of Fall Creek Place, a formerly blighted neighborhood that is seeing a lot of redevelopment efforts. The design & construction team, along with the city of Indianapolis official in charge of the project, led the presentation discussing the challenges and opportunities presented.
I enjoyed both sessions, but it is clear that there needs to be some changes to the land-use policies currently in place before these types of developments become common. There is just so many variances and excessive red-tape involved with this construction. Even the simple act of replacing like-for-like in Fall Creek Place involves a special initiative with the city government.
Panel Discussion
The end of the conference was a 5 person panel discussion involving Jeff Speck and some local leaders. This part of the conference was unscripted, so there is no document to refer to. The questions were submitted by the attendees of the breakout sessions and of the keynote. Unfortunately, it became clear that our elected representatives did not have a thorough background or understanding of the policies being considered and debated in the conference. Being politicians, they appreciated what the audience wanted to hear but I was not convinced they knew how to get from here to there without seriously studying up on the issues.
Hobnob Social Hour
Most of the breakout sessions were lightly attended, but once the drinks and food were set up the place was instantly full and buzzing with people and conversation. I suppose if you want to attract politicians and public servants then hosting a party with free food and drinks is a good way to start.
The social event was held adjacent to the Canal in the Indiana State Museum. It was great fun, and I had the opportunity to meet and discuss the day's presentations with many of the attendees. The chance to network and socialize with people interested in land-use policy was a great benefit of this event, and I hope that it is just as successful in the future.
Labels: green design, Indianapolis, policy
posted by Graeme at
7:30 AM
3 Comments:
Glad you got to go to this. If I were a permanent resident of the city I'd pursue things like this more vigorously as well. I'm interested in whether you felt Mr. Speck contributed anything new to New Urbanist advocacy.
Duany's Suburban Nation is not fully representative of his mind and erudition...thankfully. I can understand his need to avoid fancy verbiage and far-flung theories so that his ideas more effectively reach a wider audience, but he also includes such crude generalizations about suburbia that it almost makes him seem like a far less sophisticated thinker than he actually is.
Also curious to hear exactly how the politicians indicated their unfamiliarity with certain policy topics. Good stuff.
I can't say how much he contributed to New Urbanism as a conceptual model, but he has definitely been contributing to New Urbanist advocacy. In addition to speaking at seminars such as this and co-authoring Suburban Nation, he is also co-authoring the new edition of the Smart Growth Manual. He also discussed some other programs and projects he has managed, some of which are noted on his website.
Suburban Nation is a discussion of the topic in layman's terms, but this is one of the books strengths. I did not perceive the authors to be unsophisticated at all.
As far as the politicians were concerned, my statement was based on their reaction to Jeff Speck's comments. His suggestions for how to make Indianapolis more transit based, more walkable, and more equitable were construed as criticism of the city. This was either an attempt to get people energized through popularist grandstanding or a lack of understanding about policy and its effect on the urban environment.
I am not accusing them of being poor public servants, but if I were selected to be on a panel discussion such as this one I would probably do a bit of research into the topic before I went on stage so I could contribute something other than excuses.
Sounds like a great discussion. I have read Suburban Nation but have to say I was a bit discouraged. These development guidelines are great for projects in the burbs, but they are being applied to city and urban neighborhood developments as well. To me this is counter-intuitive and the city is becoming sub-urbanized and neutered. Cities need to develop more organically and zoning and building requirements changed to encourage more development. Density and disconnection from requirements relating to cars would be welcome changes. I suggest anyone interested in learning how a city works best read Jane Jacobs "The Death and Life of Great American Cities". It is instructive when considering the evolution of Indianapolis and how we got to where we are now.
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