The ninth annual Hollsite Options Planet Earth Sustainability conference kicks off tonight with a development activity involving the designing of a new landscape for the East University area.
The conference will continue throughout the weekend with a series of keynote speakers, panels and workshops relating to sustainability. Registration for the conference, titled Ecological Urbanism, is taking place on Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. in the lobby of Lawrence Hall and is open to the public.
The Ecological Design Center is coordinating the H.O.P.E.S. conference, and approximately 400 people are expected to attend. The event will also include an art show — featuring four women artists — and a fashion show entitled “Trashy Fashion Show.”
Marc Tobin, co-director of EDC, said that historically the H.O.P.E.S. conference has focused on smaller scale projects, such as a single house. This year, however, EDC is wanting to focus on a larger project.
The kick-off event is an example of an activity approached on a larger scale. Students and community members are grouped together in a “charrette” and challenged with designing new ideas for the East Campus neighborhood in a 24-hour period.
Robyn Scofield, a graduate student in the planning, public policy and management program, said the goal of each charrette is to apply the University’s sustainable development plan to the East Campus development plan.
“It’s focused on how to design the new development with sustainability on mind,” she said.
The four keynote speakers at the conference will be talking about everything from ecological designing to co-housing, and the workshops and panels will be covering topics like the politics of renewable energy and the codes for Oregon eco-cities. There are a total of 17 panels, which are broken down into three separate categories: people, parts and places.
The art show, titled Creative Interventions, started on Tuesday in the hearth of Lawrence Hall, and runs through Sunday. One of the exhibits is a “seed bomb,” which University student Kurt McCulloch described as a “grenade-shaped palm-size compacted ball of dirt containing wildflower seeds native to the Willamette valley.”
The seed bombs will be available for the public to take home, and there is more information at the art exhibit about how to use them.
Scofield said there are still open spots with the charrette for people who are interested. For more information, visit the EDC’s Web site at http://edc.uoregon.edu, or call 346-3696.
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