A conference for planners, designers, activists, policymakers and citizens dedicated to a just future for all human settlements.

This joint conference of Architects / Designers / Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR), New Village Press, Planners Network (PN), Young Planners Network, Association for Community Design (ACD) and The Center for theLiving City merges the annual conferences of these national and international organizations, which have brought together progressive urbanists and innovative ideas for more than three decades. The June 2010 conference will unite planners, architects, designers, urban activists, educators, journalists, policymakers, academics, students and concerned citizens from diverse backgrounds across North America who share a passion for social, environmental and economic justice. All are committed to exchanging their experiences and visions for robust civic engagement, innovative planning and inclusive community building.

These same organizations coordinated joint national conferences in 2007 to address social justice and community-initiated rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina—a week-long event in multiple cities that connected grassroots partners with visiting urbanists.

Building on this experience, Toward a Just Metropolis brings us together under one tent again, this time together with numerous innovative and progressive organizations and agencies who call the San Francisco Bay Area home.

Toward a Just Metropolis will be hosted by the Department of City & Regional Planning and the College of Environmental Design (CED) at the University of California, Berkeley, under the leadership of new dean, Jennifer Wolch, herself a longtime advocate of just and sustainable cities. The College will be the site of many core conference activities, including classroom workshops and some plenary sessions. Mobile workshops, long a hallmark of Planners Network conferences, will take place throughout the region in cooperation with local community-based organizations and regional advocates and policy analysts. In order to increase community access to some of the major events of the conference, we are choosing sites with easy access to public transportation in the San Francisco East Bay Area, particularly in Oakland and Richmond.

Mark your calendars today, and come be a part of this remarkable event. The Call for Workshops is now open, and local individuals and organizations are encouraged to consider hosting a Mobile Workshop.

We are always looking for volunteers, part of the critical effort to make this conference affordable for low-income residents, students, and others. There are many ways to plug in – contact Alex Schafran at schafran (at) gmail.com

See you in June!