by: Justin Pascone
The AIA brought 150 architects, students, emerging professionals, small- and large-firm owners and other practitioners together in Denver, Colorado, last week for its inaugural SpeakUp event, a three-day-long workshop to teach tactics for advocacy around legislative topics related to architecture and the built environment.
Now in it’s second year running, this event is a hands-on complement to the AIA’s annual Grassroots conference, which was held earlier this year in Washington, DC, and covers topics such as government policy and legislation.
Participants had the opportunity to attend seminars on their particular policy area of interest and spend the remainder of the time using the skills learned to develop a campaign for a hypothetical green-schools legislation. Attendees divided into five teams and was tasked with creating a comprehensive strategy to get their local representatives to back the bill.
Attendees also participated in educational sessions covering topics like building a strong legislative plan, attaining earned-media and utilizing other communication tactics, working with political action committees, and building engagement in policy issues as the local level.
Pulse Points:
- Registration is open for the “Hyper-Efficient Building Workshops,” AIANY and Urban Green Council’s in-depth training on the design of hyper-efficient buildings and compliance with Local Law 31/32. The two-day workshops are limited to 25 participants and open to all architects, designers, engineers, and construction trade professionals. The next workshops are being held on 08.29.17-08.30.17 and on 11.07.17-11.08.17 at the Center for Architecture. To learn more and register, continue here.
- Videos from FitCity 2017 are now available for view. Hosted by AIA New York and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the FitCity conference champions the role of Active Design in building strong and sustainable communities. Full videos from the 06.06.17 conference are available here.