With this webinar, DE-US.net again brought stakeholders from across the pond together to discuss approaches to public participation. The session was started with the showcasing of the over-arching strategic approach to integrated urban development being pursued in the City of Leipzig. Co-production by the citizens was exemplified by two projects of "Bürgerbahnhof Leipzig" (Eng: "Citizen Station Leipzig") as well as the "WiQ - Wir im Quartier" (Eng: "We in the District"). The presenters from Fresno, CA then talked about the effectiveness of the ABCD approach - Asset Based Community Development - to focus on existing community strengths as a starting point for community engagement. Practical examples from the Elm Avenue Cooridor in Fresno as well as the needs for the southwest portion of Fresno were elaborated upon. 

 

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

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 play a critical role in this. The US approach highlighted here 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".

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 explanation of the German political goals related to reducing land consumption as well as practical testing of 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".