Wednesday, May 30: Welcome Reception and Panel Discussion

On Wednesday, May 30, EDRA43Seattle presents a panel discussion, "Explorations in the Seattle Waterfront: Innovations in Design". Confirmed participants include Marshall Foster, Central Waterfront Planning Coordinator, City of Seattle, Department of Planning and Development, and Cary Moon, landscape and urban designer and principal of Landscape Agents in Seattle.

Foster previously served as Seattle’s Central Waterfront coordinator, managing efforts to develop new public spaces on the Central Waterfront. Prior to his positions with the City of Seattle, he worked at Mithun, a Seattle-based design and planning firm, on master planning projects with a focus on integrated sustainable design. Before coming to Seattle in 2006, Foster served as director of City Greening Initiatives and oversaw center city planning for the City of San Francisco, California. He holds a Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.

Cary Moon is a landscape and urban designer and principal of Landscape Agents. A leader of Seattle’s People Waterfront Coalition, she co-led the team to develop a vision for Seattle's shore, called Seattle Strand.

Thursday, May 31: Keynote Presentation

EDRA43Seattle is proud to welcome Denis Hayes, President and CEO of the Bullitt Foundation, as the keynote speaker on Thursday, May 31. A seasoned veteran of many legislative, cultural, and courtroom battles over the years, and the author of numerous books and articles, he is probably still best known for having been National Coordinator of the first Earth Day when he was 25. At the Bullitt Foundation, Denis leads an effort to mold the American Pacific Northwest into a global model of sustainability.

Friday, June 1: Plenary Presentation

EDRA43Seattle welcomes Johnpaul Jones, FAIA, as the plenary speaker on Friday, June 1. With a distinguished 40-year career as an architect and founding partner of Jones & Jones, Mr. Jones' designs have won widespread acclaim for their reverence for the earth, for paying deep respect to regional architectural traditions and native landscapes, and for heightening understanding of indigenous people and cultures of America. Johnpaul has led the design of numerous cultural centers and museums with tribes spanning the North American continent, culminating in his 12-year engagement as overall lead design consultant for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Saturday, June 2: Plenary Presentation

EDRA43Seattle presents a panel discussion, "From the Ground Up: Strategies for Community Development and Democratic Design" on Saturday, June 2. Confirmed speakers include Jim Diers, author of Neighbor Power: Building Community the Seattle Way, Roberta Feldman, director emeritus of the City Design Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Stephen Luoni, director of the University of Arkansas Community Design Center.

Jim Diers has a passion for building neighbor power. Since moving to Seattle in 1976, he put that passion to work for an Alinsky-style community organization, a health care cooperative, and a community development corporation. Diers was appointed the first director of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods in 1988. He served under three mayors over the next 14 years as the department grew to become a national model for planning and development powered by neighbors. After leaving the Department of Neighborhoods in 2002, Jim worked for a year as Interim Director of the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association and for three years as Executive Director of the South Downtown Foundation.

Roberta Feldman has been engaged in community design and research for more than 30 years. Embracing participatory design and action research practices, she has sustained working relationships with community leaders in over 50 community organizations and development corporations in Chicago's low income neighborhoods to address their visions for shaping, revitalizing and preserving their designed environments.

Stephen Luoni is director of the University of Arkansas Community Design Center (UACDC) where he is the Steven L. Anderson Chair in Architecture and Urban Studies. His design and research have won more than 50 design awards, including Progressive Architecture Awards, American Institute of Architects Honors Awards, a Charter Award from the Congress for the New Urbanism, and American Society of Landscape Architecture Awards, all for planning and urban design. His work at UACDC specializes in interdisciplinary public works projects combining landscape, urban and architectural design.