Don’t miss the second event in MAPC’s MetroCommon speaker series! Join us for a riveting keynote by the transportation thinker David Zipper on the interplay between urban and transportation policy and new mobility technologies, followed by an interactive panel discussion with local transportation planners, advocates, and administrators.

David Zipper is a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government, where he focuses on the interplay between urban policy and new mobility technologies. David advises numerous startups and urban officials about the future of cities and mobility. His writing about urban innovation has been published in The Atlantic, WIRED, Slate, and Fast Company. Learn more on his website, www.davidzipper.com.

Registration and networking will begin at 5:30 p.m. and the speaking portion of the event will begin at 6 p.m. Light appetizers will be served.

Stay tuned — we’ll announce our panelists soon!

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/are-we-there-yet-21st-century-mobility-registration-76091067431

We’re postponing… but! In response to the Massachusetts’s Governor’s guidance in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, we’re postponing this event. In the meantime, however, we’re still thinking about these important issues, and know you are, too. We invite you to sign up here to receive occasional emails on this and related topics. We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to being in touch!

How might creative acts of remembering and imagining in public help us reframe the past and present–and see more inclusive futures?

Join the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) for a conversation that explores the power of public art to catalyze critical dialogue around public memory, representation, and belonging, and to transform public life. You’ll hear from artists, curators, and organizers who use creative strategies to reframe public memory and imagine future possibilities for more inclusive, thriving spaces and communities.

Guest Speakers:

Paul Farber – Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Monument Lab and Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Public Art and Space at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design (keynote speaker and moderator)
Erin Genia (Dakota/ Odawa) – Multidisciplinary artist, educator and cultural worker specializing in Indigenous arts and culture
Kate Gilbert – Executive Director of Now + There
Stephen Hamilton – Artist and educator, based in Boston

This event is part of a series organized by the MAPC’s Arts and Culture Department and NEFA’s Public Art Department in conjunction with MAPC’s MetroCommon 2050 planning process. This unique, cross-sector initiative brings together artists and creators, planners, and policymakers to discuss the evolving relationship among public art, public memory, and public policy and to explore how artists can envision and shape more inclusive, thriving spaces and communities in Greater Boston.

We’re postponing… but! In response to the Massachusetts’s Governor’s guidance in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, we’re postponing this event. In the meantime, however, we’re still thinking about these important issues, and know you are, too. We invite you to sign up here to receive occasional emails on this and related topics. We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to being in touch!

What can municipal staff working in the areas of planning, open space and recreation, and public arts do to address untold histories, engage with controversy, and leverage the power of public art and public memory in these discussions?

Join the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and New England Foundation for the Arts for a professional development workshop designed for municipal staff on new approaches to public memory and public art in Greater Boston.

In this workshop, you’ll learn about best practices for facilitating dialogue about controversial monuments and memorials in your community, and about inspiring examples of public art and public history projects that are transforming public memories of places around the country. You will also engage in small group discussions where you’ll have an opportunity to learn about lesser-known historic and cultural stories in our region and how those stories and experiences can be actively engaged in place-based planning and programming related to public art, creative placemaking/placekeeping initiatives, and more.

Facilitators and Speakers: To be announced

This event is part of a series organized by the MAPC’s Arts and Culture Department and NEFA’s Public Art Department in conjunction with MAPC’s MetroCommon 2050 planning process. This unique, cross-sector initiative brings together artists and creators, planners, and policymakers to discuss the evolving relationship among public art, public memory, and public policy and to explore how artists can envision and shape more inclusive, thriving spaces and communities in Greater Boston.

How do monuments and memorials shape our understanding of place—and what we choose to forget? And how might we reframe public memory to address the harmful legacy of colonialism in our region? This artist panel will consider how remembering and forgetting of Indigenous peoples and colonial history shaped the landscape and collective consciousness of Greater Boston—and the necessary role of Indigenous artists in shaping more just public spaces.

Reclaim? Recontextualize? Relocate? Remove? What should we do with monuments that no longer reflect our shared history and collective values (or never did to begin with)? This conversation among artists, designers, and educators will explore how creative commemoration can help us see the past and present in a new light—and chart a path toward more just futures. 

Join the Mass. Association of Regional Planning Agencies and Division of Local Services to hear from special guests Governor Charlie Baker, Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, the Governor’s former Chief of Staff, Steve Kadish, as well as Secretaries Tesler, Acosta, Kennealy and Card about how to make the most of unprecedented infrastructure modernization resources and build a firm foundation for our Commonwealth’s future. Click here to register.

“Building the Foundation for our Future: Equitable Infrastructure Modernization in Massachusetts” will be hosted at College of the Holy Cross on Thursday, September 29, 2022.

After remarks from the Governor and Lt. Governor, we’ll welcome to the stage Secretaries Tesler, Acosta, Kennealy and Card to talk about the potential available funding in each of their fields, and how communities can work with the Commonwealth to make the most of this funding, followed by a brief audience Q&A.

Afternoon workshops led by senior administration officials and local leaders from across the Commonwealth provide the chance, among other things, to dive deeper into these funding opportunities, think through the challenges facing your community, and hear from other communities looking to work through those same challenges.

Finally, you’ll hear from former Baker Chief of Staff and Harvard Taubman Center Senior Fellow Steve Kadish about some of the most promising strategies for working with community members and stakeholders to make the local change that our communities need.

Workshop topics include:

• Building the Municipal Workforce Pipeline: Challenges and Opportunities
• Early Education Reimagined: Funding Reform and Municipal Implications
• Broadening Broadband: Expanding Access to High-Speed Internet
• Transportation Infrastructure and Recovery: Stimulating Local Economies with Infrastructure Improvements

This event is now full. However, you can still join the waiting list, and if a spot opens up between now and the date of the event and you are next on the waiting list, we will contact you by email. Thank you!

MAPC invites you to join us for this exciting MetroCommon 2050 Speaker Series event featuring keynote speaker Henry Grabar.

Event Program:

• Keynote address by Henry Grabar; Slate staff writer, author (Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World), and a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard School of Design
• Panel of municipal planners will discuss how they are taking on the issue of the “perfect parking space”, and advancing sustainable and equitable housing and transportation options.

As cities and towns work to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, this event will focus on how to “right-size” parking for your community while managing this political issue and promoting healthy neighborhoods that are economically vibrant, equitable, and sustainable by design.

Join the Event Waiting List