The Illinois Chapters of the APA and ASLA are planning an exciting annual conference in Peoria on October 10-12, 2007. The conference will be held jointly with the American Society of Landscape Architects, and will accordingly have a green theme - "Illinois Renaissance: Planning - Building - Sustaining".

The conference will be held in the historic Pere Marquette Hotel in downtown Peoria, overlooking the Illinois River. The opening session will be on Wednesday, October 10 at 4:00 pm and feature a tour of historic buildings, redeveloping waterfront / warehouse district and culminate with a downtown pub crawl.

The ASLA will present a number of programs on landscape architecture, streetscape design and sustainable development. Three 30 minute High Speed Planning Sessions will cover a wide range of relevant topics for professional planners and landscape architects. A sampling of the session topics includes:

• Landscape 101
• Green roofs and conservation design
• Effective cartography and mapping techniques
• Best Practices for Developer negotiations
• Ecological planning
• Measuring urban green
• Comprehensive Planning, Urban Redevelopment and Waterfront Development

These sessions are intended to have top experts make brief presentations, using real-life examples of specific topics and provide ample opportunities for direct feedback in a small group setting. Major session tracts include:

• Form based codes
• Community development- downtown revitalization & investment
• Creating a regional vision
• LEED standards for neighborhood development
• Green building techniques
• Regenerative design practices
• Marketing your municipality & community
• High speed rail
• Integrating land use and transportation planning
• Urban Best Practices
• Ethics Training & Legislative Update

Planned mobile tours include the Heart of Peoria plan area - completed by Andres Duany (Duany Plater-Zyberk), a tour or Renaissance Park (a 773-acre master planned redevelopment area), and a tour of the revitalized riverfront and warehouse district. Other planned activities include the 10th annual  President's Cup golf outing, annual awards luncheon and networking opportunities. Plan early for this event and we look forward to seeing you in Peoria !