The University of New Mexico

NEWS RELEASE

 


Contact: Carolyn Gonzales 277-5920
cgonzal@unm.edu

May 10, 2006

Developing Economically Vital Towns Focus of UNM Sponsored Workshop

A two-day workshop for public officials interested in economic development in New Mexico towns and cities, “Town Center revitalization in New Mexico: Creating Place,” is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, May 17 and 18, at the MCM Eleganté Hotel in Albuquerque.

Sponsored by the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning, New Mexico MainStreet and other New Mexico agencies and governments, the workshop will help public officials and administrators develop tools to attract community economic development financing.

Mark Childs directs both the Design Planning Assistance Center and the graduate certificate program in town design in the School of Architecture and Planning.Childs and DPAC students have worked to improve parts of many New Mexico communities including Artesia, Laguna, Socorro, Doña Ana, Aztec and Clovis .

“Of all states, New Mexico has nearly the highest percentage of its population in small towns,” Childs said.

Childs said the study of town design provides the foundation to think critically about approaches to designing emerging districts, towns and cities.

“Even a small downtown represents a tremendous investment of natural resources, money, social capital and people's lives. We need to find ways to help these towns thrive,” he said.

Issues include what it takes to create a great town, what aspects of physical design support creating vital public spaces and the importance of public art.

Other points of concern include a town's infrastructure, streets, platting patterns, building types and utility structures and how they influence architecture and the character of place.

Childs said, “ As fuel prices rise even smalls towns will struggle to serve areas of sprawl. We aim to have communities think again in terms of public works rather than infrastructure. Infrastructure tends to focus narrowly on a single goal such as getting the most cars down the road. The traditional public works approach balances multiple factors to build great towns so that we design shady boulevards that provide for drivers, pedestrians, adjacent shop owners, farmers' markets and parades.

Thinking is terms of public works, we may revitalize courthouse squares – such as those in Portales or Santa Rosa, or plazas such a Dona Aña's or Monticello's – because they provide for the life of the town.”

Experts in the field of community-based economic development, including Roger Schluntz, dean, UNM School of Architecture and Planning; Robert Apodaca, New Mexico capital outlay manager; and Rhonda Faught, New Mexico secretary of transportation.

For more information or to register, call New Mexico MainStreet at 505-827-0363.

 

 


The University of New Mexico is the state's largest university, serving more than 32,000 students. UNM is home to the state's only schools of law, medicine, pharmacy and architecture and operates New Mexico's only academic health center. UNM is noted for comprehensive undergraduate programs and research that benefits the state and the nation.

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