Conference of Sustainable Design set for first weekend in November

In an effort to promote a cleaner and healthier community, Oxford will host the Conference for Sustainable Design the first week of November.

The conference, which will be held Nov. 1 to Nov. 3, will provide Oxford residents an opportunity to learn more about living in a sustainable community.

“People use the term sustainability a lot,” city planner Tim Akers said. “We are trying to narrow people’s definition of sustainability and show how it applies to Oxford. I look at it as what it takes to create a healthy community in all its aspects.”

In collaboration with the American Institute of Architects, Oxford will welcome experts in fields such as transportation, natural resources and urban design that are central to the green movement.

“The sustainable design assessment team will be a group of experts brought in from around the country to lead the discussions,” Akers said.

The first major event will be an open-forum town hall meeting the evening of November 1 at the Lyric theatre. It will give residents an opportunity to participate and voice any concerns or ideas they have.

The second day of the conference will consist of a series of discussions, or “breakout sessions” as they are called. Many of these breakout sessions will be hosted on campus in an attempt to encourage student participation.

“We put the meetings on campus hoping we can get a lot of university involvement,” Megan Prescott, executive assistant to the mayor, said. “Students can come between classes or during classes if their professors want to do it as a class. We definitely need their input.”

The idea behind the conference is for the city to lead by example to encourage businesses and individuals to examine ways they can live and operate in a less environmentally taxing manner.

“What we hope to do is to start developing a framework for decision-making that considers the sustainability of those decisions and what those decisions entail,” Akers said.

Many students are already beginning to take an interest in the discussion. Freshman Tyler Ferrell said he would like to hear the discussion about transportation.

“I’d be interested in hearing about reducing carbon emission,” Ferrell, who doesn’t own a car in Oxford, said. “Maybe Oxford should consider an expanded bike rental service. I’d like to see more people riding to class instead of driving to class.”

Inevitably involved in the transportation conversation will be the Oxford University Transit system. Senior Brittany Linkous said she likes the bus system but thinks there is room for improvement.

“I live on Old College Hill Road and the bus doesn’t come by there,” Linkous said. “It would be better if they implemented more stops and made it a little more widespread. But I do think it is effective.”

The assessment team will consider recommendations from its own members and Oxford before coming up with a final list of proposals.

“At the end of the conference, they’re going to lock themselves in a room and take all the information and develop a strategy that will be presented to the public,” Akers said.

The final suggestions will be presented Wednesday evening at six o’clock in the courtroom of Oxford’s courthouse.

“This will hopefully give us some direction as to policy and adjustments to ordinances to help achieve some of the things we are talking about,” Akers said.

The city’s website, http://oxfordms.net, will have a full schedule once it is finalized. Live video feeds of the breakout sessions will be available through a link on the city’s website with an email address that will allow viewers to write in questions.