— Jul 21, 04:42 PM — 

A Creative Look at Our City

pdXPLORE — In The Round: Collective Leadership

July 22 | 6-9pm
Swigert Commons
1241 NW Johnson St
Free and open to the public

Join some of the region’s most engaging leaders for In The Round: Collective Leadership, a panel discussion that takes a creative look at Portland’s urban landscape and asks how our unique history can inform the future.

The discussion features leading elected officials and city planners including Mayor-Elect Sam Adams and is a continuation of the dialogue that began with five designers and architects and resulted in pdXPLORE, an interactive multi-media exhibition on display in PNCA’s Swigert Commons through July 27.

The Daily Journal of Commerce
shared the design philosophy of each pdXPLORE panelist. The first pdXPLORE event also garnered attention from the magazine Portland Spaces which included the entry “PNCA Installation Explores Future of PDX” on its Burnside Blog.

Reviewer Amber Case of Web site Hazelnut Tech Talk described the event as “mind-blowing.” She encourages folks to check out the exhibit, on display in the Commons through July 27. The Hazelnut Tech Talk Web site, “presents events, blogging advice, productivity hacks and profiles of local tech innovators in the Portland community.”

A PNCA+ Five Idea Studio, In the Round will address the challenges facing Portland and visions for the future. Are we ready for the dramatic changes coming to Portland in this new century? What shape will our city take over the next 50 or 100 years? What is essential about Portland? What do Portlanders believe in, and what is our DNA? What are the fundamental urban patterns and design principles at work here? What are our hopes and dreams, and how can we build our city to realize them?

Panelists include: Sam Adams, City Council Member and Mayor-Elect of Portland; Rudy Barton, Chair of Architecture Department, Portland State University; David Bragdon, President of Metro; Tom Hughes, Mayor of Hillsboro; Gil Kelley, Director of Planning Bureau, City of Portland; Robert Liberty, Metro Councilor; Carol Mayer-Reed, Principal, Mayer/Reed; Michael McCulloch, Architect/Principal, Michael McCulloch Architects; Richard Potestio, Principal, Potestio Architecture; Alice Rouyere, Executive Manager for the City of Gresham; and William Tripp, Architect. Moderated by Thom Walters.

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Sam Adams, City Council Member and Mayor-Elect of Portland is a friend of the arts, and of Portland. Managing Vera Katz’s first campaign for mayor at age 29, Adams was the youngest mayoral chief of staff in the city’s history. He is currently Commissioner in Charge of Portland’s Office of Transportation and the Bureau of Environmental Services, and council liaison to, among others: the Regional Arts & Culture Council, the Association of Portland Neighborhood Business Districts, and Worksystems, Incorporated. During the primary elections on May 20, 2008, Adams won the Mayoral seat for Portland. He takes office January 1, 2009.

Rudy Barton believes the key to understanding Portland is to recognize that the Willamette River is the defining heart of our city–both literally and metaphorically. His drawings and photographs will explore the physical role of the river in Portland, to illustrate how the river should be the central armature upon which to focus future development and connect us with the natural world. He believes we should be able to see and touch the river in our daily lives.

David Bragdon, President of Metro, has lead new initiatives to preserve natural areas and protect water quality, support thriving neighborhoods, create jobs and economic prosperity, improve our transportation network, and make Metro a more effective and accountable government. He was first elected to the Metro Council in 1998 as a district Councilor and became the Metro Council’s first regionally elected President in 2003.

Tom Hughes, Mayor of Hillsboro, was born in Hillsboro and educated in the Hillsboro school system. He serves on the boards of Washington County Community Action Organization, Oregon Economic Development District, Hillsboro Schools Foundation Advisory Board, Metro Policy Advisory Committee and Metro Reserves Steering Committee, among others. Appointed by the Governor, Hughes also serves on the State Revenue Restructuring Task Force Committee, Transportation Vision Subcommittee and Transportation Governance Subcommittee. He is currently the President of the League of Oregon Cities and serves on the National League of Cities Finance, Administration, 
Insurance and Revenue Committee.

Gil Kelley, Planning Director for the City of Portland, assumed his post in January 2000. As Planning Director, Kelley is responsible for coordinating planning and development functions among all city agencies. He also coordinates Portland’s policy development and planning activities with the regional government, along with state and federal agencies. Reinforcing Portland’s long tradition of innovative urban planning, Kelley is leading several new initiatives aimed at furthering the city’s vitality, livability and beauty including river and streams restoration, a science and technology based economy, investment in neighborhood centers, and design excellence in new building and public open spaces.

Robert Liberty, Metro Councilor for District 6, has 25 years of experience in promoting livable communities at the local, regional, state and national level. He served as a staff attorney, and later Executive Director, of 1000 Friends of Oregon, the nation’s first statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to implementing Smart Growth policies. He has also worked as an attorney in private practice, a land use hearings officer, and Senior Counsel to Congressman Earl Blumenauer. He was elected to Metro, the nation’s first elected regional government, in November 2004. On the Metro Council he acts as liaison to the Transit Oriented Development steering committee and co-chaired the Housing Choices Task Force. He has degrees from the University of Oregon, Oxford University and Harvard Law School.

Carol Mayer-Reed is intrigued by the comparison of Portland with our neighboring Left Coast cities: San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver, B.C. She is examining aerial photos, digging for interesting factoids and what is unique to Portland, all in an attempt to articulate our DNA. Through her affinity for clean water, pursuits to create river awareness and design work on the Eastbank Esplanade, Mayer-Reed expands our understanding of who our “clients” are, including salmon.

Michael McCulloch is exploring Portland’s DNA, the program for the design of the city, along with who and what we are designing for. He is proposing diagrams for the city that are inclusive and easily understood. Within the originating concept, “River, Ravine and Ring”, McCulloch will be designing a few pieces of the overall plan that need to be understood in the context of the DNA and the Diagram. These will be examples of remodeling the city with elements that may have no client but are both possible and unique to their site(s): Sullivan’s Bluff; OHSU village; Bethany Center and a few more.

Richard Potestio is challenging conventional notions of zoning by exploring the many successful areas of the city that have a substantial mix of building types, where density and green space are “marbled” into the urban fabric. By understanding these rich, organic micro-patterns, they can be applied to other areas of the city, increasing overall density, spatial diversity, and livability. Central to Potestio’s work are drawings showing the future urban fabric of Portland as seen from street level.

Alice Rouyere, Executive Manager for the City of Gresham, provides support to the City Manager, City Council and Department Directors to implement the City’s growth and development initiatives and the City Council’s Work Plan. She has 17 years experience in urban planning, community development and public works in city government and private consulting. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Oregon and holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Colorado.

William Tripp is making drawings of the design principles unique to Portland. These drawings focus on the making of ritual space, the outdoor living rooms essential to creating and sustaining community. Spaces range in scale from the entire city itself, the way it sits in the landscape, to the smallest triangle plaza on Burnside. He believes that we must see the city not as a collection of buildings and streets, but as a rich tapestry of meaningful and useful public space.

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PNCA+FIVE Idea Studios are an ongoing and portable series of conversations, lectures and performances on the inner workings of creative practice. The series features internationally acclaimed practitioners from a range of fields and cultures as part of a broader PNCA+FIVE effort to highlight the importance of creativity in fostering innovation and civic imagination.

• Press Release: PNCA Launches FIVE Idea Studios

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Room and Board for PNCA+FIVE Idea Studios guest speakers has been provided by The Heathman Hotel

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