Growing Smart in Cleveland: Acting Like a Community Shareholder

June 22, 2019 marked the 50th anniversary of the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969. This fire was by no means the first fire on the river (at least 12 others were reported prior to that) or even the biggest (the largest fire caused more than $1 million in damage). But the 1969 fire landed Cleveland in TIME magazine’s report on the nation's environmental problems - and put Cleveland in the history books as a catalyst for environmental policy change. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the fire, the City Club will be hosting Igniting the Future, a series of conversations on how the Cuyahoga River fire and its aftermath set the stage for the modern environmental movement.

Calvin Gladney, LEED AP, is President and CEO of Smart Growth America and is a nationally recognized thought leader on the equitable and sustainable revitalization of communities.

Over the past 10 years, Mr. Gladney has worked on community revitalization projects in more than 25 cities and has served as a strategic advisor on projects with estimated development costs of over $1B and totaling more than 5M square feet of planned development. He has worked on community revitalization projects throughout the United States including projects in Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Boston, Denver, Detroit, the District of Columbia, Grand Rapids, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Louisville, Memphis, Oakland, Pittsburgh and Prince George’s County, MD.

Join us for the final forum in our Igniting the Future series, a conversation on the challenges posed by urbanization and climate change.

This forum is the keynote of the American Planning Association (APA) Cleveland’s We Plan CLE initiative, a platform for discovery, understanding, and promoting conversations about the issues and themes that effect our region. 2019 events focus on the theme: Water, highlighting our connection with water, celebrating what it gives us, and introducing dialogue to envision a sustainable water future.