If You Go
Date: May 13, 2009
Time: 7:00 PM
Where: Wittemyer Courtroom, Wolf Law School

Separated at Birth: Insights from Kindred Communities

Boulder can boast of being placed on many “Best of…” lists: most educated cities, best cities for bicycling, best healthy places to retire, greenest cities, top art destination, and so forth. Comparisons to other innovative cities along these lines are natural and create a set of kindred cities, from whom we may have been “separated at birth,” but with whom we share certain attributes.

What lessons can we learn from a bit of advice from some of these places? How have they dealt with maintaining a strong sense of community in the face of intense pressure for change? Have they experienced a loss of diversity, in all its meanings? Has their strong community identity been a good thing or a burden? Have choices for divergent lifestyles increased or diminished? Are their communities becoming more sustainable? And what does that mean, and what changes might be required?

Moderated by Patty Limerick, panelists from “kindred communities” will share their stories and help us all reflect on where Boulder might be headed in the coming years.