Cities are not just places. They are hubs for creativity, economic innovation, social connections, and cultural and racial diversity. Today, Bay Area cities stand at a crossroads: What does the future of work look like, and how will it shape our downtowns and suburbs? Can we grow sustainably and equitably with access to economic opportunity for all? How should transit evolve to better serve emerging travel patterns? How are we poised to meet the challenges of climate change, including extreme climate events?

As urbanists, we have an opportunity to reshape our landscape to address these big questions. How do we get it right?

1 p.m. | LIVESTREAM OPENS

1:30 p.m. | INTRODUCTION + KEYNOTE

Kick-off the day with a keynote from renowned urbanist and Former Chief City Planner, City of Toronto

• Jennifer Keesmaat / President and CEO, Collecdev-Markee

2:15 p.m. | PANEL CONVERSATION

Can New Cities Be the Right Way to Grow?

Over the next 50 years, the San Francisco Bay Area will gain as many as 4 million people and 2 million jobs. In the last 20 years, the Bay Area has failed to adequately house our population. After a strong period of population growth in our cities, we are now starting to see many low and moderate income households move to the suburbs. Our racial disparities have worsened. And we haven’t figured out how to scale up solutions to shift away from fossil fuels and build and grow more sustainably.

The developers of California Forever in Solano County propose to build a new city from the ground up with urbanist principles: a walkable community with affordable homeownership, accessible jobs, convenient shopping, green buildings, and resilient infrastructure. While this project is new, the idea of new towns is not a novel concept. In fact, many versions of new towns have been built in the United States and around the world. Are new cities part of the solution for accommodating growth? Can it be done equitably and sustainably? What are the implications for communities in existing cities? Can we learn from previous efforts in the United States and abroad? Join us for this engaging conversation, where our participants will grapple with all the thorny questions raised by new towns.

• Alicia John-Baptiste, President and CEO, SPUR
• Jennifer Keesmaat, President and CEO, Collecdev-Markee
• Ellen Lou, Principal, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
• Daniel Rodriguez, Director of the Institute for Transportation Studies and the Chancellor’s Professor of City and Regional Planning, UC Berkeley