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Home / News / Montgomery Planning now accepting presentation proposals for Makeover Montgomery 5 conference scheduled for September 2022

Montgomery Planning now accepting presentation proposals for Makeover Montgomery 5 conference scheduled for September 2022

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Proposals are due by March 15 for three-day conference with a focus on resilience

Wheaton, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), is seeking presentation proposals for its conference Makeover Montgomery 5: Resilient Montgomery, co-sponsored with the University of Maryland’s National Center for Smart Growth. This is the fifth time this conference will take place with a focus on seeking regional ideas to help Montgomery County thrive. The call for session and individual presentation proposals is now open and will close on March 15, 2022. This year’s conference will focus on all aspects of planning for resiliency in the areas of the economy, neighborhoods, infrastructure, and the environment.

Submit a proposal for the Makeover Montgomery 5 Conference

“The COVID-19 pandemic, which has changed the way we work, travel, communicate, and more, has shown us that communities need to be ready for anything,” said Montgomery Planning Director Gwen Wright. “We have weaved ideas for resiliency throughout the update to Montgomery County’s General Plan, Thrive Montgomery 2050, and look forward to hearing from others on how they are making their communities more resilient at the Makeover Montgomery 5 conference.”

The conference will be held in person starting the evening of September 22 with a keynote speaker event at the University of Maryland, College Park followed by in-person sessions on September 23 and 24 at the M-NCPPC headquarters in Wheaton, MD (2425 Reedie Drive, Wheaton, MD 20902). There may also be a virtual option for attendance depending on the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of the conference. Makeover Montgomery will bring together planners, architects, developers, real estate professionals, economists, social scientists, ecologists and others to discuss cutting-edge ideas for ensuring that suburban and urban places of all types are more resilient with respect to the local economy, neighborhood and social conditions, the environment and climate, infrastructure, and public health.

“Everyone is welcome to submit proposals for the Makeover Montgomery 5 conference, not just planners,” said Gerrit Knaap, Executive Director of the National Center for Smart Growth. “If we want to tackle the issues that can lead to more resilient neighborhoods, we must have a diversity of perspectives from different fields, like economists, architects, and social scientists.”

The deadline for submitting presentation proposals online is March 15, 2022, at 5 p.m. The selected presenters will take part in sessions to be held on September 23 and 24. Assistance with travel-related expenses may be available for out-of-town speakers.

Presentations should focus on innovative planning and policy tools, and strategies that can help ensure the resilience of suburban and urban communities. Multiple session tracks will attract a diverse audience that includes practitioners, academics and interested community members from the DC area and across the nation.

Details:
Makeover Montgomery 5: Resilient Montgomery Conference

Proposals should reflect one of these four conference themes and suggested sub-topics:

Economic Resilience
Economic development and incentives
Small business preservation
Employment and workforce
Workplace and mixed-use strategies

Neighborhood and Social Resilience
Racial and social equity
Immigration and cultural diversity
Civic and public gathering spaces
Access and universal design
Affordable housing
Zoning reform
Missing middle housing
Tenant rights
Climate induced migration

Environmental, Climate, and Infrastructure-Resilience
Stormwater infrastructure and flooding
Smart sensors and data analytics
Green infrastructure and tree cover
Autonomous transportation
Climate adaptation

Public Health Resilience
COVID-19: looking back, what did we learn?
The post-pandemic world
Planning healthy communities
Planning for future health crises

The 2022 event follows similar conferences held in 2018, 2016, 2014 and 2011 by the Montgomery County Planning Department and University of Maryland.

Please visit the Makeover Montgomery 5 webpage for more information.

Questions? Please contact Nick Finio, Associate Director, National Center for Smart Growth at nfinio@umd.edu

About The Montgomery County Planning Department

The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, aims to improve quality of life by conserving and enhancing the natural and built environment for current and future generations. The Planning Department creates great communities by developing master plans, reviewing applications for development and analyzing various types of information to help public officials plan for Montgomery County’s future. The Department comprises 140 staff members and provides recommendations, information, analysis and services to the Montgomery County Planning Board, the County Council, the County Executive, other government agencies and the general public. Visit www.montgomeryplanning.org.

About the University of Maryland Center for Smart Growth

The National Center for Smart Growth is a non-partisan center for research and leadership training on smart growth and related land use issues in Maryland, in metropolitan regions around the nation, and in Asia and Europe. Located at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD, just eight miles from Washington, D.C., the National Center for Smart Growth was founded in 2000 as a cooperative venture of four University of Maryland schools: Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Public Policy, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Engineering.

Accessibility

The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission encourages the involvement and participation of all individuals in the community, including those with disabilities, in the planning and review processes.  In accordance with the requirements of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M NCPPC) will not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities on the basis of disability in its services, programs or activities.  M NCPPC works to make its facilities and materials accessible and to hold public meetings in locations that are, likewise, accessible.  M NCPPC will generally provide, upon request, appropriate aids and services and make reasonable modifications to policies and programs for qualified persons with disabilities (e.g., large print materials, listening devices, sign language interpretation, etc.).  For assistance with such requests, please contact the M-NCPPC Montgomery County Commissioners’ Office, at least a week in advance, at (301) 495-4605 or at mcp-chair@mncppc-mc.org. Maryland residents can also use the free Maryland Relay Service for assistance with calls to or from hearing or speech-impaired persons; for information, go to www.mdrelay.org/ or call (866) 269-9006.