Planners Network national conference in New Orleans

Planners Network is the organization for progressive planning. They publish a journal of the same name, and do other interesting work. Below is their conference announcement:

*Planners Network 2007 Conference - New Orleans - May 30-June 2 -
Conference Theme - Race, Class and Community Recovery: From the Neighborhood to the Nation and Beyond

*Visit to see the lineup of presenters and workshops, for information about the plenary panel and the inaugural PN film festival, and to register. Information about accomodations, community-based workshops, fundraising options and our collaboration with The Great Gumbo, ACD/ADPSR's conference June 3-5 inBaton Rouge is also available.

Hurricane Katrina exposed tremendous rifts over class, race and community, not just in New Orleans but throughout the United States and around the world. It also shook the very foundation of planning and governance, whose failures were broadcast in high definition to the global community. Yet the effort to dig out and rebuild has been marked by tremendous innovation and will on the part of local communities, despite continued abandonment at the federal level.

The Planners Network 2007 Conference will confront issues of race, class, injustice and the failures of planning, while seeking to learn from the work of community-based organizations, dedicated planners and local residents.

Planners Network is an association of professionals, activists, academics, and students involved in physical, social, economic, and environmental planning in urban and rural areas, who promote fundamental change in our political and economic systems. The planning department at the University of New Orleans is the only accredited planning program in Louisiana, Mississippi or Arkansas, and has been extremely active in community-based planning efforts in the aftermath of the hurricanes.