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Your network for the exchange of ideas and the access to expert knowledge about the City of Tomorrow. Discuss with our members if you want to provide solutions for sustainable and better living in the "Zukunftsstadt" - the City of Tomorrow. DE-US.net supports you by:

highlighting people and projects offering innovative solutions and research activities,
providing a platform to discuss ideas and innovative approaches to make US and German cities ready for the future,
being a market place to establish new partnerships for further optimization, adaptation and implementation of innovations,
creating a repository of funding options to support bilateral projects and Exchange.

Area Wide Planning Webinar Series

Stay up-to-date with an overview of our planned webinars by downloading the following flyer.

Further information regarding the individual webinars will be sent via our newsletter mailing list.

Join us for the Webinar “Community Engagement”

Webinar Topic: Integrating Community Engagement and Area Wide Planning

Date: June 9, 2022
Time: 16:00 PM — 17:30 PM (CEST) // 7:00 - 8:30 AM PDT

Webex Access Link: https://uba-meeting.webex.com/meet/stadtlandplus
Dial-in Option Germany: +49 619 6781 9736
Dial-in Option US: +1 650 215 5226
Meeting Number: 174 493 0249

The following speakers will share their experiences in both the German and US context.

Stefan Heinig Stefan Heinig – Stadtentwicklung / Planung / Beratung Stefan Heinig is currently a freelance urban planner. Up until September 2020, he was the Director of the Department for City Development Planning for the City of Leipzig. He was responsible for the integrated city development concept, residential and urban core concepts, land use and landscape planning as well as the coordination point for citizen participation for the initiative „Leipzig weiter denken“ (Eng: “Leipzig thinking ahead”). He has also been active in various international cooperation projects, including the Dialogs for Change with partners from Germany and the USA.
Germán Quiñonez Every Neighborhood Partnership Germán Quiñonez is the Neighborhood Development Director for Every Neighborhood Partnership, which is a an inclusive, diverse, multifaith, 501c3 community-benefit organization with a 15 year history of addressing the social disparities that directly impact the most vulnerable populations in Fresno’s south neighborhoods, through civic engagement, capacity building, health advocacy, and community revitalization. Over the past 17 years, he has enjoyed serving in some capacity as a local urbanist for community development, proudly boasting of no direct affiliation with institutions or any academia but rather acting as an emerging leader of creative thinkers who are fighting for the third space, by rediscovering the gifts and assets that exist in every neighborhood, and reclaiming those geographies for liberation! In his free time, Germán enjoys reading and traveling and occasionally celebrates accomplishments with tequila shots for fun.
Drew Wilson City of Fresno, CA Drew Wilson is a Supervising Planner for the City of Fresno in the Planning and Development Department. He has managed a range of Long Range Planning projects from Specific Plans to Corridor Studies, and currently runs the City’s Brownfield Program. He was born and raised in Fresno, which shaped his passion for planning and community engagement.
Aimee Storm US EPA Aimee Storm is the Land Revitalization Coordinator and Policy, Research and Outreach Team leader for EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR). Her work supports community-led redevelopment of contaminated properties and associated neighborhood revitalization strategies. Aimee holds Masters Degrees in City & Regional Planning and Business Administration.

News & Events

12 May

DE-US.net Webinar “GIS and Tools"

With this webinar, DE-US.net brought together stakeholders from Germany and the US to discuss the different approaches to brownfield and vacant land development with the use of tools. The German presentations focused on innovative and scientific approaches to create valuable data related to brownfields for the entire nation. Methods such as cadastral evaluations as well as artificial intelligence and machine learning were detailed out. The US approach highlighted looked into the development of a community engagement and a community perspective with tools. This was seen as an essential part to successful projects in the Lousiville region.

The webinar was moderated by Ann Caroll (USEPA) and Karl Eckert (German Environmental Agency). The full recording can be found under "Webinar".

28 Apr

DE-US.net Webinar “Tradable Development Rights"

Both Germany and the US pursue goals which aim at reducing urban sprawl. The benefits are manifold: reduction of land and soil sealing, less traffic, lower costs for infrastructure, protection of biodiversity, among. On the one hand, the Federal Government of Germany has approached the topic by setting the political target to reduce land consumption to less than 30 hectares per day (roughly 75 acres per day) by the year 2030. Not having a comparable goal in the US, there are still parts of the country where an increasing sensitivity concerning the conversion of agricultural or forest land into settlement structures can be observed.

The webinar allowed for the explaination of the German political goals related to reducing land consumption as well as practical testings for this regulation on the state and municipal level were discussed. Public and private entities in the US presented their approach to the topic as well and the working scheme for tradable land rights. In conclusion, participants were able to learn about both approaches and the intersections to each other. The webinar was moderated by Sarah Sieloff (Maul Foster & Alongi, Inc.). The full recording can be found under "Webinar".

25 Mar

DE-US.net Webinar “Integrated land management should help transition towards sustainable reuse”

Land use, especially in urban-rural regions, is dynamic; municipalities need to adapt to changing societal needs and opportunities (for jobs, health, living standards, logistics, etc.). Further, municipalities are challenged to provide resiliency against environmental stresses caused by climate change. For this, both private and public perspectives are important to consider.

During the webinar, speakers such as Kersten Roselt (Jena GEOS) & Ingo Quaas (quaas stadtplaner) from the German side presented on successful industrial site reuse in Germany with a particular focus on the Zeiss industrial site in Jena. Jon Grosshans (USEPA) from the United States presented best practice examples from the Appalachia Just Transition program in the eastern US and also highlighted the role of "playbooks" for discussing the topics with community members.

The discussion with participates was moderated by Doug MacCourt and Uwe Ferber (StadtLand GmbH). The full recording can be found under "Webinar".

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