Urban Land Institute Looks at Land and Water
The need for more sustainable land development techniques to conserve water and help replenish water resources in the West will be the focal point of an upcoming symposium being hosted by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Center for Balanced Development in the West in partnership with the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the Sustainable Sites Initiative, and Ernst & Young.
The forum, which will examine the impact of urban development on water quantity and quality, will be held Dec. 8-9 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Headlining the list of nationally acclaimed private and public sector water and land use experts are Deanna Archuleta, deputy assistant secretary for water and science, U.S. Department of the Interior; Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager, Metropolitan Water District of Los Angeles, Andy Lipkis, executive director, TreePeople; David Modeer, general manager, Central Arizona Project; and Bradley Udall, director, Western Water Assessment.
ULI is a global nonprofit research and education institute dedicated to responsible land use; the Center for Balanced Development in the West focuses on improving urban growth patterns throughout the western U.S. The emphasis being placed on the role of land use in conserving water resources distinguishes this symposium from other events related to water shortages in the West, said ULI The Americas President Cheryl Cummins.
“It’s clear that regional and local problems with both water quantity and quality will continue without a broad-based cutback in public water consumption and a change in development patterns,” Cummins said. “This event will look at water infrastructure through the lens of sustainable growth, illustrating how land development can be part of the solution to efficient water use, rather than the problem.”
The complete schedule is available at www.uli.org/centerwest.