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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:
Associate Professors Lee Fithian, Ph.D., and Elizabeth Pober have published a chapter in the recently released New Perspectives in Indoor Air Quality, published by Elsevier. Their contribution, titled “Chapter 16 – Architecture and the Challenges of Indoor Air Quality,” examines the relationship between architecture and indoor air quality.
Dr. Ladan Mozaffarian, Assistant Professor of Regional and City Planning, has been selected to serve as Co-Chair of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Planners of Color Interest Group (POCIG) for the 2025–2027 term.
The Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to recognize Tahsin Tabassum, a recent graduate of the college’s Master of Regional and City Planning program and current doctoral student at the University of California, Irvine, for receiving the prestigious 2024–2025 American Planning Association (APA) Outstanding Student Award.
