Events, Lectures + Exhibitions : Planners Network Conference on Design
The conference was held June 2-5, 2005, with over 250 participants.

Tours

The following tours will take place on Friday, June 3rd. The tours, with the exception of tour #7, are all-day tours and include a box lunch. Tour #7-L(a)RT: Public Art and Design on the Light Rail and Beyond is an afternoon tour.

Tour 1-Indigenous Planning in Minneapolis and Mille Lacs
Tour leaders: John Koepke, UMN Department of Landscape Architecture and Richard Milgrom, Metropolitan Design Center

Join us as we explore planning issues facing Native Americans in the Twin Cities region. We will spend the morning in the Phillips neighborhood, the center of the Native American population in the metropolitan area, where we will see and hear firsthand how urban issues, particularly housing, are being addressed. In addition, we will tour Franklin Avenue, a primary commercial corridor experiencing a revival due in part to the Native American, Somali, and Latino businesses and communities in the neighborhood. The afternoon takes us to the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe reservation on Lake Mille Lacs, approximately 1-3/4 hours north of Minneapolis, where we will explore similar planning issues but look at them in the context of this rural setting. While touring the reservation we will visit a number of new tribal facilities made possible by the revenue generated from Grand Casino, Mille Lacs.

Tentative list of sites that will be visited:

  • Minneapolis American Indian Center
  • Phillips neighborhood and Franklin Avenue
  • Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe reservation

Tour leaders' and participating professionals' affiliated organizations:

Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
  • Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe web site -This site provides links to historical information, tribal information, and educational materials. http://www.millelacsojibwe.org/

Native American

  • Minneapolis American Indian Center web site -Located in the heart of Minneapolis 's Indian community the Minneapolis American Indian Center provides a variety of progamming that promotes Indian culture and self-sufficiency. http://www.maicnet.org/

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Tour 2-Ecological Restoration in the Center Cities
 Tour leader: Laura Musacchio, UMN Department of Landscape Architecture

The Twin Cities is considered to have some of the most progressive examples of ecological restoration in the urban environment. On this tour, you will see state-of-the-art ecological restoration projects in the neighborhoods and park systems of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The landscape architects and ecologists who worked on these projects, will provide first-person accounts about the background, goals, issues, and outcomes of their projects. Examples of these projects may include: (1) a wetland park converted from a defunct shopping center; (2) a school and garden located on a brownfield; and (3) an urban stream restoration. Since we will be walking in the outdoors, please dress accordingly (e.g., hiking boots, sunscreen, bug repellent, sun glasses, and so on).

Tentative list of sites that will be visited:

  • Phalen neighborhood and Ames Lake wetland-wetland recreation
  • El Colegio Charter High School -brownfield restoration
  • Minnehaha Park -park restoration
  • St. Paul waterfront-greening efforts
Tour leaders' and participating professionals' affiliated organizations: Phalen Corridor Initiative
  • City of St. Paul web site -This City of St. Paul site gives a brief outline of the Phalen Corridor Initiative and the Ames Lake Wetland. Links to the Phalen Village Small Area Plan (1994) provide background into the early planning of this project. http://www.ci.stpaul.mn.us/depts/ped/pci/pci.html
  • Phalen Corridor web site -This site provides general information about the Phalen Corridor. http://www.phalencorridor.org

Minneapolis Park System

Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board web site -This web site provides information about the park system in Minneapolis.

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Tour 3-Urban Food Systems
Tour leader: Beth Munich, Renewing the Countryside

Learn about the development of urban food systems from a historical and contemporary perspective as you tour the New Immigrant Agriculture Project in Marine on St. Croix, MN, the Community Design Center's community and youth gardens, and innovative food markets in the Twin Cities. The tour will feature Mark Ritchie from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Ruth Murphy from the Community Design Center, Peter Rachliff from Macalester College, and Antonio Rosell from the Community Design Group, as well as a farm fresh lunch made with locally grown foods.

Tentative list of sites that will be visited:

  • New Immigrant Agriculture Project, Marine-on-St. Croix
  • Community Gardens
  • Innovative food markets

Tour leaders' and participating professionals' affiliated organizations:

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CANCELLED - Tour 4-Central City Open Space and Low Impact Design
Tour leader: Katherine Thering, Metropolitan Design Center

Downtown Minneapolis is fortunate to have a number of open spaces, both public and private. The first part of this tour will take you through some of these spaces, with guest speakers joining us for discussions on the history and function of each space with an emphasis on the role of open space in active living, urban livability, and the ecology of the Mississippi. This portion of the tour will also include spaces along the Mississippi River, and a walk across the historic Stone Arch Bridge.

The later part of the tour will focus on Marcy-Holmes, a neighborhood that features residential landscapes and a park that use Low Impact Development (LID) techniques. The tour will visit yards with rain barrels, rain gardens, and porous pavement. Also featured is a temporary park designed by the Metropolitan Design Center which features rain gardens, earth forms, and native plants.

Note: Involves significant walking in an urban setting

Tentative list of sites that will be visited:

  • Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
  • Loring Park
  • Loring Greenway
  • Nicollet Mall
  • Peavy Plaza
  • Mill Ruins Park
  • Stone Arch Bridge
  • St. Anthony Main
  • Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood
Tour leaders' and participating professionals' affiliated organizations:
  • Katherine Thering (tour leader), Metropolitan Design Center, University of Minnesota http://www.designcenter.umn.edu/people/staff/kthering.html
  • Trust for Public Land http://www.tpl.org/tier2_rl.cfm?folder_id=482&submit.x=17&submit.y=5
  • Kestrel Design Group http://www.kestreldesigngroup.com/

Marcy Holmes Neighborhood Association

Learn about projects in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood, and visit links on rain gardens, rain barrels porous pavement, and other LID techniques and resources. Also provides links to resources for the neighborhood.

  • Marcy-Holmes home page: http://www.marcy-holmes.org
  • Information on rainwater resource recycling: http://www.marcy-holmes.org/projects/rainwater/index.html

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CLOSED - Tour 5/6-Affordable Housing
 Tour leaders: Ed Goetz, UMN Planning Program, Gretchen Nicholls, Center for Neighborhoods, and Ann Forsyth, Metropolitan Design Center
(Please note that this tour is a combination of
two separate housing tours advertised earlier.)

This tour focuses on new housing development models and recent innovations in housing design. The first half of the day focuses on public and nonprofit housing in Minneapolis while the afternoon will feature affordable housing initiatives in St. Paul.

The tour begins with a visit to the still-under-construction Heritage Park. Formerly a public housing development, the Heritage Park redevelopment on Minneapolis ' near north side consists of 900 housing units. It consists of a mix of housing types, including rental, for sale, and public units for the elderly. The tour of this development will include discussions with the developer, and an ecologist will give an ecological critique of the site.

The tour will then visit the Lake Street corridor, part of a project by the Minneapolis Corridor Housing Initiative (MCHI). Convened by the Center for Neighborhoods, this project brings together neighborhoods, a technical team, and city staff to develop a strategy for attracting well-designed, higher-density and affordable housing to transit corridors. This planning is intended to result in realistic design and development options that reflect community values, development constraints, and city goals.

This tour will visit several affordable housing projects located in St. Paul, both single family and multi-family. Included is a tour of Habitat for Humanity houses constructed by women on former brownfields.

The tour will conclude by visiting case study homes that use new technologies in sustainable and affordable house design. The homes were designed through a partnership between the University of Minnesota, Greater Frogtown Community Development Corporation, and the Wilder Foundation.

Tentative list of sites that will be visited:

  • Heritage Park development
  • Lake Street between 11 th and 15 th Avenues
  • Affordable Housing Initiative homes
  • Habitat for Humanity Brownfields demonstration

Tour leaders' and participating professionals' affiliated organizations:

Corridor Housing

Innovative House Building Technology

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CANCELLED - Tour 7-L(a)RT: Public Art and Design on the Light Rail and Beyond
Tour leaders: Kristine Miller, UMN Department of Landscape Architecture and Shelly Willis, UMN Weisman Art Museum
Please note this is an afternoon tour.

Ride the award winning Minneapolis Light Rail and learn about its dozens of public artworks, and the design process that shaped them. Meet and talk with some of the artists and architects who designed the artworks at the stations including: Christopher Faust, Janet Loftquist, Joann Verburg, and Andrew Leicester. Minneapolis artist Seitu Jones, a member of the artist selection committee and noted artist, will give an introduction to the tour. The tour begins at the College of Design lobby. The walk across campus to the first Light Rail station includes stops at University of Minnesota public artworks.

Note: Transportation will be predominantly on light rail with a bus connection

Tentative list of sites that will be visited:

  • Public art installations on University of Minnesota campus
  • Hiawatha Light Rail Transit Line stations
Tour leaders' and participating professionals' affiliated organizations:
  • Kristine Miller (tour co-leader), University of Minnesota Department of Landscape Architecture http://www.cala.umn.edu/landscape_architecture/fac/fac/miller/intro.html
  • Shelly Willis (tour co-leader), Weisman Art Museum http://www.weisman.umn.edu/

Light Rail Art

  • Star Tribune web site -Below are links to local newspaper articles about light rail line art. http://www.startribune.com/stories/368/5115760.html
    http://www.startribune.com/stories/368/4861842.html
    Note: You may need to register with the Star Tribune web site to see the content.

Light Rail

  • Minnesota Department of Transportation web site -This site is a good one-stop shopping site for information about the Hiawatha Light Rail Line. It includes links to news, construction, information resources, light rail vehicles, community involvement, and stations and route maps.
    http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/lrt/
  • City of Minneapolis LRT Station Area Master Planning http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/citywork/light-rail/planning/index.html
  • Metropolitan Council (the Twin Cities' regional planning agency) http://www.metrocouncil.org/transportation/lrt/lrt.htm
  • Metro Transit (a division of the Metropolitan Council) http://www.metrotransit.org/rail/index.asp
  • City of Minneapolis http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/citywork/light-rail/index.html
  • Minnesotans for Light Rail Transit http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/2288/mnlrt.htm
  • Light Rail Now- Minneapolis Site http://www.lightrailnow.org/facts/fa_lrt_min.htm
  • Minnesota Legislative Reference Library -A light rail transit guide compiled by Minnesota Legislative Reference Library staff for Minnesota legislators. http://www.leg.state.mn.us/lrl/issues/rail.asp

Public Art on the University of Minnesota campus

  • Weisman Art Museum web site - Weisman Art Museum staff administer the University's public art program. This site lists some of the public art on campus. http://www.weisman.umn.edu/public/public.html

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Tour 8-Transit Oriented Development and the Light Rail: From Affordable Housing to the Mall of America
Tour leader: Mark Garner, City of Minneapolis and Frank Fitzgerald, Metropolitan Design Center

Spanning 12 miles, Minneapolis ' Hiawatha light rail line connects three of the region's most popular destinations-downtown Minneapolis, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and the Mall of America-as well as several neighborhoods. Join us as we explore mixed-use neighborhoods that existed before the line's construction and learn about the changes that are taking place to complement this new transit option. A variety of professionals will join us throughout the tour, providing insights into ongoing station area master planning process, transportation planning, and new projects.

Note: Transportation will be predominantly on light rail and foot

Tentative list of sites that will be visited:

  • Cedar-Riverside Neighborhood and Cedar Square West ( Riverside Plaza )-large urban renewal project from 1970s
  • Hiawatha Light Rail Transit Line and areas surrounding stations-station area planning and transit oriented development
  • Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport -light rail station
  • Mall of America
Tour leaders' and participating professionals' affiliated organizations:

Cedar-Riverside Neighborhood

  • Cedar Riverside.com -This site includes information about the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood including business listings and links, entertainment calendar, and other general information. http://www.cedarriverside.com
  • West Bank Arts Quarter ( University of Minnesota ) web site -This site includes information about the departments that comprise the West Bank Arts Quarter as well as a listing of upcoming events. http://artsquarter.umn.edu/
  • Cedar Square West / Riverside Plaza -These links provide access to information about Cedar Square West in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. This Cedar-Riverside housing project was the first federally funded New-Town-in-Town project in the U.S.
    http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/cx/?id=100607
    http://www.aia-mn.org/awards/25YearAward.cfm

Light Rail

Mall of America

Various sites related to the Mall of America -The Mall of America is the nation's largest retail and entertainment complex.

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