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The National Brownfields Training Conference was held in Oklahoma City from August 16th through the 19th. The local and national planning committees for the annual conference began work on the meeting in March of 2020. Ron Frantz, Director of the Environmental Design Program, served on the Local Planning Committee’s Mobile Workshops, Socials, and Evening Receptions Committee.
Originally planned for April 27th – 30th in 2021, the conference was delayed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the planning committee’s commitment to an in-person conference in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City was chosen for the site of the conference due to the brownfield redevelopment happening in the city. The OKC Convention Center, where the conference was held, was built on a redeveloped brownfield.
Kevin Thomas, Sara Delroshan, Henry Wilson
This conference brought over two thousand brownfield professionals from across the country to share knowledge about case study examples, program updates, and useful strategies for facing the challenges of developing brownfields. The conference featured federal agencies, engineering firms, developers, nonprofits, and more. Brownfields 2022 also held special sessions on local economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several representatives from the OU Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture played key roles in the conference:
Brownfields 2022 also extends a special thanks to the following Gibbs College students who worked many hours over the five days of events:
The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture is proud to announce that Model Schools in the Model City, authored by Director of the Institute for Quality Communities, Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., has been named one of ten finalists for the 2026 ASALH Book Prize for Best New Book in African American History and Culture.
This semester, students in the LA 5535 Studio: Ecological Planning and Design, led by Prof. Afsana Sharmin, took on an ambitious hypothetical project to redesign key parts of the OU campus. Their mission: to tackle the critical real-world challenge of stormwater management through innovative green design.
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
