Realty News Report

Acclaimed New Urbanism Architect Andres Duany to Address NAREE’s “Designs on the New Urban Grid” Conference in Atlanta in June

ATLANTA  – New Urbanism visionary Andres Duany, one of world’s most influential architects and urban planners, will address the National Association of Real Estate Editors’ 47th Annual Real Estate Journalism Conference in Atlanta in early June.

NAREE’s conference – “Designs on the New Urban Grid” -  will bring scores of journalists from around the country to Atlanta June 5-8 to focus on housing, commercial real estate and urban planning.

“Duany is the godfather of the New Urbanism movement,” said RealtyNewsReport editor Ralph Bivins, NAREE conference advisor. “He has changed the way communities are being built and the way cities will be designed in the future. In short, his ideas have changed America – and the world.”

Duany will speak Friday, June 7 at the substantive one-hour “NAREE Symposium: The Next Evolution of New Urbanism” at the Hilton Atlanta.

David Bodamer, editor of National Real Estate Investor, will moderate the symposium, which will include two noteworthy New Urbanism developers: Jackie Doak, chief operating officer of Dart Realty (Cayman) Ltd.; and Steve Nygren, president, Serenbe.  Doak will discuss The New Resort Town of Camana Bay, a 500-acre mixed-use development in the heart of Grand Cayman built using New Urbanism principles. Nygren is developing the Serenbe eco-village, a 1,000-acre sustainable community south of Atlanta.

Duany – hailed by The Atlantic magazine as “The Man Who Reinvented the City” – is co-founder of DPZ Architecture in Miami. His New Urbanism principles prescribe the antidotes to urban sprawl and auto-dominated lifestyles with focus on walkable, sustainable communities.

“We are honored to have Mr. Duany speak at our conference,” said NAREE President Kris Hudson, a Wall Street Journal reporter. “Attendees will be enriched by this opportunity to learn more about New Urbanism, in conjunction with other real estate topics.”

Along with speakers addressing home building, hotels, luxury housing, mortgages, and online real estate, the NAREE conference will carry the new urban design theme with speakers and tours including:

•  Marianne      Cusato, the designer who created the Katrina Cottage as a cost effective      substitute for FEMA trailer housing victims of Hurricane Katrina in New      Orleans. She designed the Katrina Cottage during a Duany-led charette in      Biloxi, Miss.
• Mark      Toro, partner of North American Properties, will host a NAREE tour of the      Atlantic Station mixed-use project in Midtown Atlanta.
• Matt      Bronfman, CEO, Jamestown, will host a tour of Ponce City Market, the      largest adaptive re-use project in Atlanta’s history, with a redevelopment      of a massive Sears warehouse.
• A      Saturday walking tour of Serenbe, including its 25-acre organic farm and      Farmer’s Market in the main village. Serenbe’s streetscapes are lined with      blueberries and connect with country walking paths.
• Matt      Hudgins, a contributing writer to the New York Times, will lead the      “Workplace Debate: Downtown vs. the Suburbs” with panelists John McColl,      Cousins Properties; Robert Bach, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank; Rob Metcalf,      Jones Lang LaSalle and David Kitchens, Cooper Carry.

“NAREE 13 will bring journalists from the Los Angeles Times to the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post and Boston Globe to Tweet, blog, report and write about the driving forces of where the next generation will live, work and play,’ said Mary Doyle-Kimball, NAREE Executive Director. “ I expect Mr. Duany will tell us not only about his vision of the future but also what might be done to re-make the sprawl in the suburbs. Just as millions left the farm in the post-World-War II era, millions are flocking to the urban core today.”

Equipping journalists to better report and interpret the real estate design and development is a vital component of the NAREE conference, Doyle-Kimball said.

The NAREE University sessions, covering digital media, blogging, Twitter and other journalism topics, will provide invaluable peer learning opportunities.  NAREE University peer faculty will include contributors and journalists from the Orlando Sentinel, Wall Street Journal, Commercial Property Executive, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the San Diego Union-Tribune, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, MSN Real Estate, Unique Homes magazine, AOL Real Estate, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Los Angeles Times.

Visit www.naree.org for more information.