Inaugural Seminar, March 7-10, 2001 (Miami, Florida)

The first Knight Program in Community Building seminar was held in March 2001 in Miami. Fellows introduced themselves, held sessions to discuss their proposed research and potential locations for the Knight Program charrette, and listened to and attended presentations by guest speakers including: Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (dean of the University of Miami School of Architecture); Ray Gindroz (principal with Urban Design Associates based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a firm with extensive experience in HUD’s HOPE VI Program); Denis Russ (Miami Director of the Local Initiatives Service Corporation); Craig Robbins (Miami Beach developer and attorney); Niesen Kasdin (mayor of Miami Beach); Diane Dorney (resident and former Homeowners Association President of the Kentlands, a New Urbanist community in Gaithersburg, Maryland and editor/publisher of The Town Paper); Victor Dover (principal of Dover, Kohl and Associates, a leading New Urbanist planning and design firm, and an expert in community participation processes); Reid Ewing (urban planning professor at Rutgers University and author of research and books on best development practices, traffic calming, and transportation planning); Phillip Bess (Architecture professor with Andrews University); Andres Duany (founding member of the Congress for the New Urbanism and principal of Duany Plater-Zyberk, a leading New Urbanist planning and design firm); and a large number of School of Architecture faculty and students.

This seminar incorporated a community revitalization case study that focused on the Miami Beach experience. The case study sessions included meetings with developers, historic preservationists, architects, planners, nonprofit organizations, and elected officials, including an engaging ninety-minute question-and-answer session with the Mayor.