THE USE AND ABUSE OF THE URBAN BLOCK

COLLOQUIUM VIII:  “THE USE AND ABUSE OF THE URBAN BLOCK”
Presented by the Los Angeles Region Planning History GroupCity of San Gabriel, City Hall Council Chambers 425 S. Mission Drive, San Gabriel, CA 91776** 
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Free Parking at City Hall, Entering on McGroarty Street; parking also available at Mission Playhouse, 320 S. Mission Drive, San Gabriel
Continental Breakfast Reception:  9:30 a.m. Colloquium and Lunch:  10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. 
**PLEASE USE THE ATTACHED FORM TO REGISTER** 
       The urban block is a critical and fundamental unit in every city. Its crucial role as the mediating element between individual site and neighborhood cannot be overestimated.  Yet, in many ways, this significance has been lost; for decades, the block has remained marginalized in how we plan, design and develop the urban landscape. Much time, effort, and treasure have been focused on individual lots and buildings, ignoring their sometimes detrimental impacts on urban fabric and urban life.  At the other end of the scale, many development projects are big enough to dwarf the block itself.  The block has been stretched, squashed, scraped and repurposed:  suburban mega-blocks hold immense retail structures amid a sea of cars; residential super-blocks with repetitive buildings disrupt traditional neighborhoods, and aging inner-city blocks lined with parking spaces disrupt and degrade the streetscape.   
       In recent years, the design and configuration of the urban block has gained renewed attention and respect.  Numerous residential, commercial, and mixed-use projects are being undertaken not as mega-buildings but as block-scale, street-friendly developments, reestablishing the traditional relationship between the urban grid and the public realm. Focusing attention on the urban block suggests such questions as: How can block design mediate between urbanism and architecture?  How do residential and commercial environments affect block design? How can parking needs be balanced with building program while generating a rich public realm for people? What regulations and policies can encourage/require good block design?  As California cities struggle with the death of large, subsidized redevelopment projects, could the urban block itself provide an ideally-sized solution?
              A distinguished panel will address these and other questions regarding the urban block: 
Todd Gish, USC Price School of Public Policy; Moderator Vinayak Bharne, Director of Design, Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists Stefanos Polyzoides, Principal, Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and UrbanistsAlan Loomis, Principal Urban Designer, City of Glendale (invited) 
RESERVATIONS
Event is $40; for students with valid student IDs, $20 Fee includes Continental Breakfast, Lunch 
Seating is limited to 80 attendees; registration opened May 21, 2013 Please confirm your attendance to: Alice Lepis, Secretary  alepis@prodigy.net (preferred) or at 818.769.4179 on or before Noon, Wednesday, June 26, 2013 
You may pay either of two ways:
Pay Pal which is accessible through the LARPHG website: LosAngelesRegionPlanningHistoryGroup.org
(or)
Check payable to:  “Los Angeles Region Planning History Group” with completed registration form sent to:
Los Angeles Region Planning History GroupC/o Alice Lepis, Secretary11227 Acama StreetNorth Hollywood, CA 91602
Please include a copy of your student ID if you are registering as a student. 
PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY:
FIRST NAME LAST NAMEORGANIZATIONE-MAILADDRESSCHECK  IF STUDENT