Waterfront Conference 2023

Join a critical conversation at this year’s Waterfront Conference where we explore the major opportunities, challenges, and barriers to infrastructure projects. Questions to cover include: What do operators and owners need to ensure a project is built on time and on budget? What does government need and how do consultants help? What are the systemic barriers to implementation? How do we ensure equity in project design and funding are a part of every project? What lessons did we learn from Hurricane Sandy when there was a last major influx of funding? Starting with short presentations by leading voices on these issues, the session continues with the audience joining roundtable discussions covering a set of the above questions. Participants will share their expertise and learn from peers on these critical questions. Report-outs from the tables and responses from the panelists conclude the hour.

Panel sponsored by:

The full menu of methods for informing communities and obtaining public input is vast, yet many continue to rely on the use of public meetings or open houses as the primary tool for public participation. What is the full menu of tools for involving communities, soliciting information, gathering input, and building trust?  What else is needed to make sure methods go beyond the public meeting model? What methods are most equitable and what are the costs and implications of a wider range of commitments to other methods by project sponsors?

Panel sponsored by:

A wave of energetic resistance has been rising against key resilience projects and infrastructure development. Some projects have become mired in public controversy, with epithets such as NIMBYism (Not In My Backyard) and BANANAs (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone) thrown back and forth. These dynamics of community opposition present challenges for the future of climate-resilient infrastructure projects. As neighborhoods and communities face change, how can we steer the environmental movement to think creatively and innovatively about what our future communities need to look like? What are strategies that work for engagement processes experiencing resistance and hardship? How can projects that expect resistance prepare for it? How do design teams balance incorporating legitimate community concerns with misinformation? What has worked well and why?

Reception hosted by: