Urban Design 2022 Speaker Series: Action on Resiliency

SAVE THE DATE!

Thursday, June 30

5:30 pm / Social

6:00 pm / Panel Discussion 

Join AIA Houston Urban Design Committee Summer Speaker Series, to understand sector roles, agency perspectives, and resident expectations as agencies pursue funding for resiliency projects in our communities.

Title: Connecting Resilient Needs

Description: 

The $1 trillion bill signed by President Biden in November 2021 includes the largest amount ever spent by the United States on infrastructure investments. Nearly half of the funds from this bill are ear-marked to help communities build infrastructure toward resilience measures.

Half a trillion dollars is a BIG OPPORTUNITY for private, public, and academic design agencies throughout Harris County who are working towards building a resilient Houston. Join the design community to discuss how agencies are preparing projects eligible for resilience and prevention programs funded by the infrastructure bill. You will learn about resilience priority projects per sector, and identify with us how sectors can work together to streamline resilience efforts.

AIA Credit: 1.5 HSW/LU

Speakers: 

• David Fields, AICP, is the City of Houston’s first Chief Transportation Planner.  David believes a great community provides safe transportation choice for all. David is experienced planning and implementing multiple modes (walking, biking, heavy rail, light rail, on-street bus services, and TNC’s); parking and curb management; and policy (transit-oriented development and transportation demand management); all based on meaningful community participation. Current City initiatives include Vision Zero so that travel by all modes is safe across city streets, implementation of 1,800 miles of high comfort bike lanes, and converting the North Houston Highway Improvement Project into a project that supports the city’s values and supports the local communities.

• David W. Robinson is currently serving 2.3 million citizens of the City of Houston in his third term as City Council Member for the At-Large 2 position. David was appointed chair of the Transportation, Technology & Infrastructure (TTI) Committee of the Houston City Council in the spring of 2018. He was named vice chair of the Housing and Community Affairs Committee in 2020. Most recently, he was elected as chair of the Transportation Policy Council of the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC), to which he was first appointed officer in 2014 by Mayor Parker and subsequently reappointed by Mayor Turner in 2016.
  
  David received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Yale College in 1988 and earned a Master of Architecture from Rice University in 1993. In 2018 he was elevated to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA). He is the proud father of his daughter Elissa, a college junior in New York City, and is currently the Senior Warden at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church.

• Susan Rogers is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the Hines College of Architecture and Design at the University of Houston and the Director of the Community Design Resource Center (CDRC). A designer, educator and activist, her work is based on the disciplinary foundations of architecture and city planning with an expanded lens to directly engage questions of justice and equity. Professor Rogers holds a Masters of City Planning and a Masters of Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelors of Architecture from the University of Houston.

• Tyler Swanson is an Associate Partner with ROGERS PARTNERS Architects + Urban Designers and leads the firm’s Houston office. A licensed landscape architect and registered architect, he has led award-winning projects from the early phases of research to the final phases of construction. His work balances the dynamic life of buildings and the emergent qualities of the landscapes which surround them. Tyler has served as a design critic at Drexel University, Temple University, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Houston. His writing has been published in the journal: Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes. Tyler received his master’s in landscape architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his Bachelor or Architecture and Bachelor of Arts degrees from Rice University.

• Priya Zachariah, AICP, is currently the Chief Resilience and Sustainability Officer at the City of Houston streamlining efforts to implement the Resilient Houston Plan and the Houston Climate Action Plan. Among many leads, Ms. Zachariah previously spearheaded the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County’s Regional and Long Range Plan and METRONext Plan leading its implementation as a Senior Manger and Transit Planner. Ms. Zachariah received her master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning, from the University of Southern California Los Angeles, her bachelor’s degree in Architecture at the Center for Environment, Planning and Technology in India and at the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland, she is a Bohnett Fellow, and holds an American Institute of Certified Planners credential.

• Katherine Summerlin is an alumna of the University of Houston, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Master’s degree in public administration. Ms. Summerlin currently serves as a Senior Staff Analyst with the City of Houston’s Public Works, Transportation and Drainage Operations. Ms. Summerlin previously worked with HCTRA managing capital planning, financial analysis, procurement, and FEMA compliance. She has spent more than two decades delving in local and state government policy, volunteering in civic engagement causes and various professional associations. Katherine is a first-generation immigrant and believes in leveraging government’s resources to build resilient communities and equitable institutions.

Location: Architecture Center Houston, 902 Commerce, Houston, TX

Additional Information:

• Advanced registration is preferred however, door registration will be available. 
• A minimum of 3 days' notice is required to recieve a full refund if you need to cancel your reservation
• Surface lot parking and street parking avaialble (fees apply)
• Walking distance from the Metro Rail line
• Beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages provided