Center City Conference Allows Regional Planners To Compare Notes on Community-Building
By Justin Udo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Community developers from around the Delaware Valley today were getting advice on best practices for building livable communities.
Barry Seymour, with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, says the one-day conference, at the Union League, was designed to give helpful information to planners and developers of more than 350 communities around the region.
"We're covering a lot of ground, so we're talking about planning around transportation, around reuse of vacant properties, around parks and open space, around dealing with climate change and weather events," he told KYW Newsradio.
And Harriet Tregoning, director of the Office of Economic Resilience at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), was also on hand to talk about how to best build up neighborhoods:
"How to activate streets. How to create more opportunities for young entrepreneurs, and how to attract and retain highly educated college graduates in their communities," she said.
Tregoning also gave the developers examples of cities from around the country that are making great strides in developing their land and properties.