2 events, 2 great speakers - July 8 & 10

Sustainable Shelby -- On July 8, at 2:30 pm, at the Botanic Garden, Mayor Wharton will role out the top ten sustainable goals for Shelby County – it’s the culmination of months of work by County staff and citizens to set priorities and map out a plan for future smart growth. Doug Farr, author of Sustainable Urbanism, the guidebook for this process, will be the guest speaker. Free.


Center City Commission Annual Luncheon -- On July 10 at 11:30 am in The Peabody Hotel's Grand Ballroom, the Center City Commission will host its Annual Luncheon. Keynote speaker, Maurice Cox, Director of Design with the National Endowment for the Arts, will share his experiences and take a look at trends in Memphis and downtowns across the nation. $55. To register online, click here.

Here’s some additional information about these two outstanding speakers.


Doug Farr, an architect and urban designer, is the founding principal and president of Farr Associates, which focuses on form-based codes, transportation corridors, neighborhoods, historic preservation and adaptive reuse. Mr. Farr has served as cochair of the Environmental Task Force of the Congress for the New Urbanism, chair of the AIA Chicago Committee on the Environment, and chair of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) Core Committee.

Unlike the original LEED program, which rates only single buildings and for which site selection is an afterthought, LEED-ND "will place the emphasis on the elements that bring the buildings together into a neighborhood, and relate the neighborhood to its larger region and landscape," says the council.

A founding principal and president of Farr Associates in Chicago, Mr. Farr’s book, Sustainable Urbanism, has served as the text book for Mayor Wharton’s Sustainable Shelby and presents ideas on how to integrate architecture, city planning, and nature for a better way of life.
For more information on Doug Farr, click here and here.


For Memphians this will be a second chance to hear Maurice Cox’s incisive and creative comments on how to equate design with quality of life issues and ways to democratize design. In addition to his role as NEA’s Dir. of Design, Cox is an Asso. Professor of Architecture at the Univ. of VA and is a 2004-5 recipient of the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard Univ.’s Grad. School of Design. Mr. Cox has recently served 8 years on the Charlottesville, VA City Council with the last 2 years as the city’s mayor.
For more information on Mr. Cox, click here and here.

To read Jeff Speck’s interview with Maurice Cox, click here