San Jose, CR: The Livable City

Gensler, the global architecture, design and planning firm, announced a public conference on sustainable development to be held in San Jose, Costa Rica, on Thursday ,March 26, 2009. “San Jose: The Livable City,” will feature presentations by experts in multiple fields that focus on the sustainable growth of San Jose, the nation’s capital with a population of 1.8 million people. At this forum, a new vision for a proposed urban transit system will be presented publicly for the first time. Organized by Gensler and the international engineering firm Buro Happold, “San Jose: The Livable City” is free and open to the public. “The goal of the conference is to create a dialogue between decision makers, key local stakeholders, and those responsible for delivery,” said Joseph Brancato, Managing Principal at Gensler and one of the speakers at the conference, “We hope to provide not only a context but also a vision for the planning of strategic infrastructure in San Jose.” Other participants include Karla Gonzalez Carvajal, Costa Rica’s Minister of Transportation; Eduardo Brenes, Regional Planner for PRUGAM*; Juan Sauma, TREM* Project Manager for CNC/MOPT*; Manrique Arguedas of Earth University; and Aris Stamatiadis from Colliers International. The conference will be held at the Gran Hotel and the historic National Theater in the heart of San José. Program sponsors include: MOPT, CNC, Alumimundo, EARTH University, Grupo Roble, Colliers International, and Habitat Soluciones. Costa Rica has undergone impressive growth and transformation over the last decade, receiving accolades from the international community for its commitment to sustainability, especially in the areas of habitat preservation and eco-tourism. This conference turns the spotlight on the nation’s capital and how the principles of sustainable urban development should frame the long-term growth of the city. Critical to San Jose’s quality of life is the proposed new urban transit system, or TREM. The daytime portion of the conference will include presentations from both Gensler and Buro Happold and a panel discussion featuring a variety of perspectives from the national government, academia, and the private sector. Following the panel, the audience will be invited to participate in small workshops on specific topics including the transit system, land planning, sustainability frameworks, and implementation. The findings of the workshop sessions will be presented at a general session that evening in the National Theater. Presentations will include Spanish-English translation. The conference is the culmination of a year-long “Gensler University” class, a program sponsored by Gensler which identifies future leaders in the firm and asks them to apply their skill sets in an intensive think-tank environment. This year’s class of ten planners, urban designers and architects chose the challenge of developing a vision for sustainable mass transit for the greater metropolitan area of San Jose, where Gensler has an office. The class partnered with ten engineers and transit specialists from Buro Happold, and the resulting research and concept is being offered to the people of Costa Rica as pro-bono work. For more information or to RSVP for the conference, please go to: www.CiudadHabitable.com *PRUGAM – Proyecto Regional Urbano de la Gran Area Metropolitana *CNC – Consejo Nacional de Concesiones *MOPT – Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes *TREM – Tren Eléctrico Metropolitano *EARTH – Escuela de Agronomía de la Región Trópico Húmedo