Chuck Marohn will speak as part of the Oklahoma Professional Economic Development Council (OEDC) 2017 Economic Summit. Expect information-packed plenary sessions with engaging keynote speakers and breakout sessions, all about the latest and greatest in our industry. 

Morning Keynote - Curbside Chat (10:00 - 11:30am)

• Why are our cities and towns so short of resources despite decades of robust growth?
• Why do we struggle at the local level just to maintain our basic infrastructure?
• What do we do now that the economy has changed so dramatically?

The answers lie in the way we have developed; the financial productivity of our places. This stunning presentation is a game-changer for communities looking to grow more resilient and obtain true prosperity during changing times.

Topics covered include: America's Suburban Experiment; the Growth Ponzi Scheme; the illusion of wealth; mechanisms of growth; and incremental and traditional development models.

Breakout Session - Neighborhoods First (1:30-2:30pm)

Risky, low returning projects too often become expensive boondoggles that haunt a community for decades. Public officials everywhere are desperately seeking an alternative. This talk will cover the "Neighborhoods First" approach to show how a community can grow stronger by making small, incremental investments over time. By observing how neighbors live their lives, by asking them where their daily struggles are, by getting out on the street and discovering what is actually going on, any local government can discern what their community’s pressing needs are. These projects are the high return investments and they are all around us.

Infrastructure Crisis (2:45-3:45pm)

For more than six decades, local governments have been accustomed to building infrastructure and expanding existing systems. While liabilities have grown, transportation funding has not kept up. Now there is a desperate need for local governments to change their approach. We need to shift our strategy from an emphasis on continuous expansion to a more mature focus on maintenance and maximization of existing infrastructure. In difficult economic times, this is a scary, but necessary, realignment.

There are trillions of dollars of unproductive infrastructure already in the ground today waiting for us to make better use of. At Strong Towns, we see that our cities, towns and neighborhoods are dripping with opportunity. These opportunities are not of the mega-project variety. They are small -- seemingly beneath us, perhaps -- but they can positively transform everything about how we live our lives.

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(Top photo by camerafiend)