UH Manoa to celebrate World Town Planning Day on November 17
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Jeffrey Melrose
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP) in the UH Mānoa College of Social Sciences will celebrate World Town Planning Day 2016 on Thursday, November 17, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Hawai‘i Community Development Authority Community Room (547 Queen Street). The event, co-hosted by the American Planning Association (APA) Hawai‘i Chapter, is free and open to the public.
This year’s featured speaker will be Jeffrey Melrose, a land planner in rural Hawai‘i for more than 35 years and owner of his own planning firm. His talk about “Growing Local Agriculture in the Post-Plantation Era: How Can Planners Help?" will focus on the role that planning plays in Hawaiʻi’s agricultural land use and some of the regulatory pitfalls that repel new agricultural investment and discourage new farmer startups.
Melrose will also take a statewide look at the agricultural footprint of the islands and what it foretells about the shape of agricultural land use in the future. The state is currently in the midst of the most profound change in agricultural land use in nearly two centuries.
Melrose has worked as a consultant land planner in downtown Honolulu in the 80’s and spent 20 years as a planner and asset manager for Amfac Hawaiʻi and Kamehameha Schools. He is the primary author of both the APA award-winning “Hawaiʻi County Food Self-Sufficiency Baseline 2011” and the newly released “Statewide Agricultural Land Use Baseline 2015” prepared for the State of Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture.
World Town Planning Day was founded in 1949 by the late Professor Carlos Maria della Paolera at the University of Buenos Aires to advance public and professional interest in planning. Now celebrated in more than 30 countries around the world, the day is geared toward a gathering to share lessons, experiences and opportunities for innovations in engaging people and their communities in making cities resilient and livable in a global age.
For more information, contact DURP Chair Karen Umemoto at (808) 391-6595 or kumemoto@hawaii.edu.
MORE ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP) in the UH Mānoa College of Social Sciences brings together a diverse faculty and student body from across the world for innovative research and a unique learning environment in the Asia Pacific Region that fosters practical solutions for critical global and local issues through planning, public policy and social collaboration. Responding to the global need for cooperative responses to environmental crises, resource scarcities, and socio-political conflicts, DURP takes a visionary “whole society” approach to planning and works with various partners to deepen social and human understanding with the aim of increasing resilience, sustainability and quality of life for all.
MORE ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
Marked by leadership, excellence and innovation, the College of Social Sciences (CSS) at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa provides students with a culturally diverse experience that transforms them into bold, engaged global citizens who affect change, break down barriers, touch lives and succeed in a multi-cultural context. Its student-centered environment is dedicated to providing students with a vibrant academic climate that affords exciting, intense interaction among students and faculty as they address fundamental questions about human behavior. Featuring outstanding scholarship through internships, active and service learning approaches to teaching, and an international focus particularly in the Asia Pacific region, it prepares students to become leaders in public and private enterprises throughout Hawai‘i and Asia.