As manager of the public open space group of the Chicago Department of Housing and Economic Development, Mr. Chueng provides direction on city-wide open space planning, open space impact fees, Tax Increment Financing for Chicago Park District projects, and city/private developer open space collaborative projects. He also oversees open space land acquisition projects, lease agreements, and intergovernmental transactions. As the Department's waterways planner, he leads policy direction on the implementation of the Chicago River Plan and the Chicago Lakefront plan review for public open space projects. Addressing the need to provide space for urban agriculture within the city, Mr. Chueng also coordinates the assembly, design, environmental remediation, and site preparation for urban farm projects. Mr. Chueng holds an AB in Biology from Washington University and a MS in Forestry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  

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Schedule of Events with Nelson Chueng

Tuesday, February 12
9:30-11:00: Participation in UP446/Sustainable Planning Seminar, Professor Brian Deal, Room 223
11:30-12:15: Lunch with invited BAUP students, DURP Conference Room
12:30: Presentation: The Chicago City Planning Department: Perspectives on Open Space Planning
1:30: Lunch with Professor Deal and invited guests

The Wetmore Lecture is free and open to the public. This event is sponsored by the Louis B. Wetmore Fund (Department of Urban & Regional Planning). For more information, contact Alice Novak, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, novak2@illinois.edu, 217.333.3890.

Gabriel Cumming and Carla Norwood co-developed the Community Voice Method to address a pressing need for more effective public engagement around land use and planning issues in the face of rapid, amenity-driven development. Motivating issues include a loss of rural character, contentious public hearings, environmental degradation, and a lack of productive community problem solving. CVM uses documentary media as an "iterative" approach to more effective public participation. Their work has been implemented in 6 locations with more than 1,100 people involved in an inclusive civic dialog. Cumming is Director of the Warren County (North Carolina) Economic Development Commission. Norwood is in the midst of opening FoodWorks, a cafe, bakery and coffee shop that sources from local farmers and provides an informal civic space for the community in Warrenton, NC.  

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Schedule of Events with Cumming & Norwood

Monday, December 3
10:30-11:50: Participation in UP456/Sustainable Planning Workshop, Brian Deal, Instructor, Room 19
12:00-1:00: Presentation: The Community Voice Method: Initiating Civic Dialogs and Landscape Change and Economic Development in Rural North Carolina, Room 225
1:00: Lunch with invited BAUP students, Conference Room
3:30-4:50: Participated in UP504/Urban History and Theory, Bev Wilson, Instructor, Room 223

The Wetmore Lecture is free and open to the public. This event is sponsored by the Louis B. Wetmore Fund (Department of Urban & Regional Planning). For more information, contact Alice Novak, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, novak2@illinois.edu, 217.333.3890.

Margaret Cederoth is an urban planner and sustainability manager at Parsons Brinckerhoff, New York. She currently serves as the manager for the sustainability components of the California High Speed Rail Program as well as leading sustainability for the Parsons Brinckerhoff Transportation company. She led sustainability efforts for the Masdar Institute project in Abu Dhabi from 2007 to 2009, and was active on several projects in the region that explored sustainability criteria for infrastructure projects. She has been an urban planner at Parsons Brinckerhoff since 2002, and currently leads sustainable design and company initiatives at PB. She has a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, is an AICP planner, and a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accredited professional.  

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Schedule of Events with Meg Cederoth

Tuesday, September 18
11:15-12:15: Lunch with invited BAUP students, Conference Room
12:30: Presentation: Making Sustainability Plans Happen: Ideas to Reality, Room 225
2:00: Participation in UP199 RB/Foundations of Urban Sustainability, Robby Boyer, Instructor, Room 225
5:00-6:15: MUP Happy Hour, Firehaus Bar, 708 S Sixth St, Champaign
6:30: Dinner with invited faculty, Radio Maria
Wednesday, September 19
10:30: Participation in UP456/Sustainable Planning Workshop, Professor Brian Deal, Room 223
12:00: Lunch with Professor Brian Deal

The Wetmore Lecture is free and open to the public. This event is sponsored by the Louis B. Wetmore Fund (Department of Urban & Regional Planning). For more information, contact Alice Novak, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, novak2@illinois.edu, 217.333.3890.

Martin Bailkey is Outreach and Evaluation Coordinator with Growing Power, a leading community food system organization based in Milwaukee, with project offices in Chicago and Madison.  He received a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Wisconsin-Madision after earlier professional degrees in architecture and landscape architecture, and following 15 years of teaching in professional environmental design and planning programs.  Martin has recently co-written a 2011 APA report on urban agriculture, and has written and lectured on the incorportation of urban agriculture into mainstream planning practice.  His work with Growing Power since 2006 has proviked thoughts about the relevance of professional education to the planning of community food systems.  He will share these thoughts during his visit.  

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Schedule of Events with Martin Bailkey
11:00: Box lunch with invited BAUP and MUP students
12:00: Presentation: How an Urban Planner Re-Engaged with Community and Food
1:00: Participation in UP 340/Planning for Healthy Cities, Professor Mary Edwards, Room 225
2:00: Dessert Reception, Conference Room

The Wetmore Lecture is free and open to the public. This event is sponsored by the Louis B. Wetmore Fund (Department of Urban & Regional Planning). For more information, contact Professor Mary Edwards, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, mmedward@illinois.edu, 217.333.3890.

Courtney Kashima’s planning career has included a wide variety of experiences: a research intern for APA; an Urban Planner for the Tongji Urban Planning and Design Institute in Shanghai; a Land Use Planner for a nationally ranked law firm; a Senior Associate for Houseal Lavigne Associates; and now a Project Manager with Farr Associates.  She is a 2000 graduate of the BAUP program here at Illinois, and earned a Master of Urban Planning and Policy from UIC in 2004.  Kashima has maintained active involvement in APA, including serving as Co-Chair of the APA-IL Annual Conference in Evanston (with record-breaking attendance) and Co-Chair of the 2013 National Planning Conference in Chicago.  She is currently Vice President of APA-Illinois.  Kashima will discuss her circuitous path as a planner in the private, public, and not-for-profit sector, and will offer advice to students about preparing for a career, the importance of relationship building, and the things she learned at DURP that were the most influential to her career.

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Schedule of Events with Courtney Kashima
11:30:  Lunch with invited BAUP students, Conference Room
12:30:  Presentation:  Anatomy of a Planning Career , Room 225
2:00 – 3:30+: UP 347/Junior Planning Workshop, Room 225
4:00 – 4:30: Meet & Greet/Dessert Reception, Conference Room

The Wetmore Lecture is free and open to the public. This event is sponsored by the Louis B. Wetmore Fund (Department of Urban & Regional Planning). For more information, contact Alice Novak, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, novak2@illinois.edu, 217.333.3890.

Samantha Singer is an Urban Project Manager with The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment in London, which she joined in 2007 following completion of her MUP here at Illinois.  In her role at The Prince’s Foundation, she has managed  over 20 UK and international projects.  Ms. Singer is currently Project Manager for a year-long initiative to improve sustainable building practices in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.  The Prince’s Foundation is one of the Prince’s Charities, a group of 20 not-for-profit organizations of which The Prince of Wales is Patron or President.

A native of Urbana, Singer Samantha also holds a BFA in Painting from Illinois.  Her MUP capstone project focused on research relating to the design of diversity of Chicago.  She was part of the multidisciplinary top four team which produced “Confluencia” for the 2007 ULI Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition in Los Angeles.  Ms. Singer has also worked at Albert Speer and Partner in Frankfurt, Germany, where she assisted with urban design competitions in Saudi Arabia.

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Schedule of Events with Samantha Singer
11:00: Lunch with invited BAUP students, Conference Room
12:00:  Presentation:  The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment and the Galapagos Islands Initiative , Room 225
1:15: Dessert Reception, Conference Room

The Wetmore Lecture is free and open to the public. This event is sponsored by the Louis B. Wetmore Fund (Department of Urban & Regional Planning). For more information, contact Alice Novak, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, novak2@illinois.edu, 217.333.3890.

Whit is vice president and founding principal of Renaissance Planning Group. He has nearly 25 years of transportation planning experience, primarily in multimodal planning and design to support redevelopment of corridors, centers and districts. His experience spans a wide range of planning projects, including corridor and area master plans, district multimodal plans, transit service plans and funding initiatives, bicycle and pedestrian master plans, and visioning studies. He studied urban and regional planning at Florida State University and journalism at the University of Florida. With his journalism background, he brings the skill of storytelling to projects, with a focus on translating complex technical issues into understandable policy considerations for elected officials, agency staff, the media and the public. Whit is an instructor for the National Transit Institute's Transit Oriented Development training course, and is assisting the Federal Highway Administration with national guidance on strategies for livable communities. He is active in the leadership of the American Planning Association, having served as chair of the APA Transportation Planning Division, chair of APA's Divisions Council and a member of the AICP Exam Committee. He led development of the new Transportation Planning Advanced Specialty Certification Exam, initiated in 2011. Whit is a member of APA's Legislative and Policy Committee, and led the development and adoption of APA's Transportation Policy Guide in 2010. He is currently serving as task force leader for an update to APA Smart Growth Policy Guide. At the 2011 National Planning Conference in Boston, Whit received the American Institute of Certified Planners President's Award for Exceptional Practice.

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Schedule of Events with Whit Blanton

• 11:00: Lunch with BAUP students, Conference Room
• 12:00: Presentation: Planning for Multimodel Transportation and Redevelopment, Room 225
• 1:00: Participation in UP 460/Urban Transportation and Land Use Policy, Room 223
• 2:30: Coffee with faculty hosts, Palette, Krannert Art Museum
• 3:30: Dessert Reception with students, Conference Room
• 6:30: Dinner with invited faculty, Radio Maria

The Wetmore Lecture is free and open to the public. This event is sponsored by the Office of Sustainability and the Louis B. Wetmore Fund (Department of Urban & Regional Planning). For more information, contact Brian Deal, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, robo@illinois.edu, 217-333-1911.