Smart Growth in New Mexico

The national New Partners for Smart Growth conference, hosted by the Local Government Commission, opens in Albuquerque January 22. Now in its 8th year, the conference will gather hundreds of planners, developers, community leaders and other smart-growth practitioners at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

According to Judy Corbett, Executive Director of the Local Government Commission, “People from multiple disciplines are now talking about Smart Growth; and if they aren’t doing it, they are talking about the need to do it. This conference will again bring together interested people from ever-expanding disciplines to learn everything from the basics to the cutting edge of implementation.”

Among the presentations will be the latest research, cutting-edge implementation tools and techniques, best practices, model projects, policies and codes, coordinated networking activities, interactive learning experiences, and new partners in Smart Growth. It’s an opportunity to network and coordinate with your peers as well as practitioners from many different disciplines.

Who Will Benefit

The conference will draw a multidisciplinary audience of local elected officials, city and county staff, landscape architects, developers and builders, planners, transportation professionals and traffic engineers, public health professionals, architects, bankers, realtors, urban designers, parks and recreation professionals,school superintendents and board members and facilities staff, environmentalists,crime prevention professionals, advocates for older adults and youth, bicycle and pedestrian advocates, advocates for social equity and affordable housing, labor representatives, and all others committed to building safer, healthier, and more livable communities everywhere.

Sitting at the intersection of Interstates 25 and 40, Albuquerque and the surrounding areas stand on the verge of rapid growth, with new “green-tech” and film industries emerging in the local economy to compliment the legacy of high-tech capital flowing from the Sandia National Laboratory and Intel in nearby Rio Rancho. The conference will have more than 300 speakers, 100 sessions and 11 tours of local projects.