Happy New Year! As we roll into the new year, we wanted to take a quick look back at the dynamic conversations that took place during CPEX’s Virtual Smart Growth Summit in November. We’ll highlight top takeaways from each session to guide us as we take on the challenges ahead and seize new opportunities to secure a resilient future for Louisiana in 2022.

CPEX helped “shape our future” at this year’s Virtual Smart Growth Summit by bringing together experts and innovators from across the nation to share their ideas and solutions for the challenges our communities face – such as climate change, health disparities, and racial and economic inequalities.

Thanks to the support of our sponsors and our members, we were able to adjust to the “new normal” and offer the 2021 Virtual Smart Growth Summit at no charge again this year, spanning three days and providing a wealth of information and insight ranging from our climate crisis and its impact on racial inequity to viable solutions for flood risk mitigation and healthy community design. Here are some of the top takeaways to keep in mind as we embark on a new year of great work:

Climate Resiliency: Communities Built to Last

Hurricane Laura hit Louisiana in August of 2020 – a year and a half later, communities in Southwest Louisiana are still fighting to recover. At a time when communities throughout Louisiana and the rest of the nation are struggling to recover from natural disasters that have become more frequent and intense, this opening session brought forth a critical and honest discussion about how to ensure that our communities are built to withstand the future impacts of climate change. Engaging HUD in this conversation provided insight on how the federal government is shifting programs to support disaster recovery that builds lasting resilience and how locals can position themselves to benefit from these programs. One theme that stood out: informed and inclusive decision making at all levels is critical to ensure that investments being made in climate resilient infrastructure result in the progress needed toward climate goals and an equitable distribution of risks and rewards.

Speaker Highlights:

Our expert panelists also highlighted the value of bringing diverse groups and sectors to the table when discussing climate change, adaptation, and resiliency. Including government bodies, nonprofits, a range of professionals and practitioners, academics, and community representatives helps ensure that the varied ideas and needs of our communities are heard and incorporated into planning processes.

Our experts and advocates were clear: to achieve climate resiliency, we must first address our longstanding history of racial and economic inequalities. True climate resiliency cannot happen until we are open and honest about the issue, make actionable plans that include historically marginalized communities, and invest our dollars in holistic approaches that incorporate all voices.

The Reality of Renewables

This session was an exciting exploration of new opportunities that could result from Louisiana’s investment in renewable energy. Panelists shared their expertise on creating good governmental policy and practices that strike an equitable balance of interests and deliver beneficial results to the communities they serve. Our speakers also provided concrete advice to help propel Louisiana towards a just transition.

Speaker Highlights:

The environmental and economic benefits that can result from Louisiana's transition to renewable energy cannot be understated. However, as our Summit speakers made clear, we must work to ensure the transition includes historically marginalized communities as we move together toward a more sustainable future.

Modernizing Mobility with People-First Practices

Mobility continues to be a hot topic throughout Louisiana and the nation, and the conversation has been amplified by the many shifts precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the long-awaited passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. A global shift away from car culture to people-centric mobility is underway in efforts to create communities that are healthier, more sustainable, equitable, and affordable. Our panel included U.S. DOT Deputy Secretary, Chris Coes, providing insight on opportunities associated with the infrastructure bill and local leaders sharing their vision and experience in implementing people-first mobility options to drive economic development, adapt to climate change impacts, and improve quality of life.

Speaker Highlights:

Louisiana has taken some important steps towards modernizing our transportation infrastructure with Complete Streets, transit improvements, bike share programs, and pursuing passenger rail – and we still have tremendous opportunity for additional improvements. Especially as significant new infrastructure resources become available in the coming year, we must ensure that we prioritize people, equity, and resilience in transportation investments.

Planning for Health: Supporting Community Health through the Built Environment

This session illustrated the ways various aspects of the built environment affect our ability to live healthy lives, making the case that planning and design are essential tools for addressing public health concerns. Planning is critical to health because nearly all social determinants of health are impacted by community planning and design. Panelists explained how a person’s ability to access quality education and jobs affects their socioeconomic status; how availability of multimodal transportation affects access to healthy food, health care, and opportunities to engage in healthy behaviors such as walking, biking, and outdoor recreation; and how safe public gathering spaces such as parks and natural areas affect our ability to connect socially, relieve stress, and engage in physical activity. Our expert speakers provided exciting examples of how we can use data, community engagement, and innovative planning approaches to create neighborhoods, corridors, and communities that support human health and help reduce health disparities.

Speaker Highlights:

There is tremendous opportunity to leverage planning processes and tools to address many of our most pressing public health concerns. To do so, we need to strengthen partnerships between planning and public health organizations and professionals; create a policy environment that is supportive of data-driven, multi-sector efforts to improve health outcomes; and empower communities with information, tools, and resources.

People Making Places: Transformative Placemaking Realized

During this session, Wendy Lewis Jackson of the Kresge Foundation, Jennifer Vey of the Brookings Institute, and Ilana Preuss, author of Recast Your City, expounded on place-making policies, design tools, small-scale manufacturing, and incentives that have driven revitalization of cherished communities across the nation. Mayor Jennifer Vidrine of Ville Platte and Mayor Julius Alsandor of Opelousas discussed how placemaking can be used to transform communities here in Louisiana and how it strengthens the connection between these places and their residents.

Speaker Highlights:

Government Street in Baton Rouge is a great example of how placemaking can transform a community. The addition of bike lanes, sidewalks, streetscapes, and murals have revived the area and attracted a number of new restaurants, galleries, and other small businesses. The streets are now filled with bike riders and pedestrians, and the corridor is home to popular events such as art walks and makers’ markets that bring life, light, and togetherness to our community in a time when people have been separated. Transformative placemaking breathes new life into communities.

Changing Climate, Changing Landscape, and Evolving Thought: Flood Mitigation in a Changing World

By now, every city in this country has experienced the impacts of climate change. Changing precipitation patterns and the 2016 floods in Louisiana highlighted the importance of adapting our approaches to flood mitigation and stormwater management. The session experts described how their understanding of stormwater management has evolved in light of the changes in weather patterns they have observed, current projects underway to address our changing climate and landscape, and best practices for future development.

Speaker Highlights:

Going forward, effective flood mitigation will call for honest conversations informed by current data. Experts emphasized the importance of not over-promising or spreading resources too thin, and maintained that to implement flood mitigation in a timely manner, we must choose one thing and do that one thing well, acknowledging that time, patience and many complementary decisions are all needed to adequately address our flood risk.

Looking Ahead to the New Year …

The Smart Growth Summit provided a wealth of information, and now it is up to us to advance effective planning, policy, and practices that will position our communities for a healthy, equitable, climate-friendly future. No matter where you live, or what you do, we all have a role to play. Attend town hall meetings and community engagement events. Share your knowledge on social media. Participate in discussions. It is up to us to shape the future we want to see.

Stay tuned for more about what CPEX will be doing in 2022!