2011 planners network. ONLY 6 MORE DAYS OF EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION!!

[jessica]

March 25, 2011
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to invite you to the 2011 Planners Network International
Conference that will take place at the University of Memphis on May
18-21, 2011. The theme of this year’s conference is “Promoting
Economic Development through Regional Cooperation and Planning”. Four
hundred community activists, professional planners, elected/appointed
officials, and urban scholars from throughout the US, Canada, Mexico,
and Italy are expected to attend this year’s event.
Among the highlights of this year’s annual conference will be:
• A keynote address on the “Geography of Opportunity” by Professor
Xavier de Souza Briggs, Deputy Director of the Office of Management
and Budget
• Half-day planning workshops in eight different Mid-South communities
focused on such issues as: food security, neighborhood-oriented retail
development, small town planning, and health-related job generation
• The Mid-South premier of Canadian Apartied, Leonie Sandercock’s
most recent film examining issues of racial and class conflict in
northern cities
• A panel focused on Planning in an Age of Austerity featuring long-
time PN leaders – Chester Hartman, Peter Marcuse, Pierre Clavel, and
William Goldsmith
• The showing of the award-winning documentary, “I Am A Man”
highlighting the heroic 1968 struggle of Memphis Sanitation Workers
followed by a panel discussion examining contemporary labor rights
• An evening of great food, music, and dance at the STAX Museum of
American Soul Music in South Memphis
where Otis, Isaac, Mavis, Sam, Dave, and Booker T. made magic
• More than twenty breakout sessions involving 60 presenters exploring
such topics as: historic preservation, urban food systems, affordable
housing, job generation, alternative transportation, and community-
based crime prevention, and
• Anti-mafia community development
In a year when so many of the social justice gains of the past are
under assault, show your support for progressive planning and policy-
making by participating in the 2011 Planners Network International
Conference. Discounted registration is available for the next nine
days and a limited number of presentation and poster board session
slots are also still available!
For more information regarding the conference, please visit the 2011
Planners Network International Conference website at: www.memphis.edu/plannersnetwork.

With warm regards,

Kenneth M. Reardon
Professor and Director of the Graduate Division of City and Regional
Planning
University of Memphis
Chair, 2011 Planners Network Conference Host Committee