Placemakers

Here's a nifty symposium that's going on this weekend in Portland, that brings together the idea of grassroots sustainable development, cohousing, and multifamily housing: Motivespace. Intended as "a forum for industry-related professionals and citizens to contribute toward a working model of “collaborative property development.” Collaborative property development is defined as the grassroots, bottom-up, citizen-led development of multifamily housing. The project is intended to teach neighbors how to work together to utilize Portland’s many resources for nonProfit and “self-help” housing development, in order to diminish the risk of new construction in a shaky real-estate market, and maximize the creative excitement of design as a tool for personal, civic, and social empowerment."

venue: Portland’s historic city hall (council chambers)
date: September 20th – 21st, 2008, 9:30 – 5:30 each day
moderator: Irma Valdez, Portland Planning Commission
organizer: motiveSpace Coalition, a 501c(3) in progress

Panelists include:
Brad Malsin, Beam Development
Kevin Cavenaugh, Tenpod Development
Judith Mowry, Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI)
Bill Cunningham, Portland Planning Bureau
Shane Endicott, The Rebuilding Center
Craig Ragland, Cohousing Association US
Eli Spevak, Orange Splot Development
Mark Lakeman, Communitecture

http://www.motivespace.org