Symposium on Growth and Quality of Life

The UCLA Lake Arrowhead Transportation-Land Use-Environment Connection

Symposium is an annual invitation-only retreat attended by 125 policymakers, policy advisors, practitioners, and members of the academic/research community from around the country.  This year's program will be held October 22-24, 2000.  The symposium series is a joint collaboration of the UCLA Extension Public Policy Program and the UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research.  Now in its tenth year, the theme of this year's meeting will be "Growth and Quality of Life" wherein the future of metropolitan growth and development in California will be examined, with an emphasis on the implications of this growth for travel, land use, and the environment. The presentations and discussion at the symposium will explore the significant demographic, economic, social and technological changes on the horizon in California and the west, and the implications of these changes for urban policy and planning.  Prior symposia in this series have served as the fermenting ground for a number of legislative bills and policy initiatives in California.

The symposium series is unique in that it brings together members of the policy and research realms.  Members of the academic community are afforded direct channels for sharing the results of their research and for learning more about how to enhance the relevance of their work in the policy and practitioner realms.  Policy makers also are able to engage the research community in an interactive mode by probing, asking for explanations, and introducing researchers to the constraints, opportunities, and challenges  that exist in the policy world.

Brian Taylor of UCLA's Department of Urban Planning has served as the lead academic coordinator for the series for the past four years.  Academics from several institutions will be speaking at this year's three‑day program: Randall Crane and Professor Evelyn Blumenberg from the UCLA Urban Planning Program; William Clark from the UCLA Department of Geography; Genevieve Giuliano from the School of Policy, Planning and Development at University of Southern California; Elizabeth Deakin, John Landis, and Martin Wachs from the UC Berkeley Department of City and Regional Planning; Kenneth Deuker, Urban Studies and Planning Program, Portland State University; and William Mitchell, Dean, School of Architecture and Planning, MIT.  Twenty speakers from the policy and practitioner realms will join the academics, including the new director of the California Department of Transportation, Jeff Morales; Chris McKenzie, Executive Director of the League of California Cities; Myron Orfield, Minnesota House of Representatives and author of Metropolitics; Carl Anthony, Executive Director of the Urban Habitat Program; and Mary Nichols, Secretary for Resources at the California Resources Agency.  Attendees will include public officials from all levels of government, representatives from private business and the development community, and representatives of environmental and community‑based advocacy organizations.

Summary proceedings from prior symposia in the series may be viewed at

www.unex.ucla.edu/publicpolicy