2016 Yosemite Policymakers Conference

Conference Theme

Twenty-five years ago, the first Yosemite conference was held to present the Ahwahnee Principles for Smart Growth, a guiding document developed by leading architects and the Local Government Commission to address a constellation of escalating impacts arising from car-dependent patterns of development — ranging from traffic congestion, poor air quality and the continuing loss of open space to mounting infrastructure costs, inequitable distribution of our economic resources and an eroding sense of community.

From the federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities to California’s Strategic Growth Council, government at all levels is increasingly recognizing the need to plan communities differently. Regions now have Sustainable Communities Strategies under SB 375, and hundreds of millions of dollars of cap-and-trade funding will now be invested in implementing smart-growth practices every year.

These are important milestones, but the Yosemite conference has always been about looking forward. As we celebrate 25 years of working together to successfully grow the smart-growth movement, our ever-vigilant question remains – “What’s next?”

Looking at how business strategies and sensibilities can be adapted for projects that create public benefits for our communities offers some intriguing models and guiding principles for the kind of innovation and investment that will be imperative to meet the challenges of the next 25 years. We can be optimistic that there is no shortage of capital available for the necessary mobility, energy and infrastructure projects that will shape our future – we just have to be creative to get it directed toward jump-starting public-sector initiatives.

This year’s Yosemite Conference will focus on a new era of sustainable community solutions – private-sector style strategies for public-benefit projects. From taking risks and failing fast to developing a portfolio of viable projects and effectively matching them with private and public sector funds – you will leave with entrepreneurial solutions for your sustainable community “start-ups”!