Peacock joins workshop eyeing sustainability issues in Houston

Walt Peacock

Walt Peacock

Walter Gillis Peacock, professor of urban planning at Texas A&M, is on a [National Academy of Sciences] (http://www.nasonline.org/) committee hosting a two-day January public [workshop] (http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/sustainability/HoustonUrban/index.htm) in Houston to examine issues relating to sustainability and human-environment interactions in the Houston metropolitan area.

[Registration] (http://www8.nationalacademies.org/EventRegistration/public/Register.aspx?event=685FCBFB) is under way for the workshop, “ [Pathways to Urban Sustainability: A Focus on the Houston Metropolitan Region] (http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/sustainability/HoustonUrban/index.htm) ” 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Jan. 18 and 19, 2012 at the BioScience Research Collaborative Auditorium at Rice University’s Shell Center for Sustainability, [6500 Main St. in Houston] (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=6500+Main+St.+Houston&aq=&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=65.900117,66.708984&vpsrc=6&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=6500+Main+St,+Houston,+Texas+77030&ll=29.711556,-95.402323&spn=0.00902,0.008143&t=m&z=17) .

The committee is consulting with regional stakeholders, including academia and local governments, to develop workshop presentations, panels and group discussions that will reflect place-based knowledge and approaches to sustainability.

Likely topics to be addressed include energy and air quality management, hazard mitigation, and land use considerations.

The workshop will be patterned after similar workshops held on research and development on urban systems in 2009 and on sustainability in the Atlanta metropolitan region in 2010.

The committee will issue a report from the workshop that will be available [online.] (http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/sustainability/HoustonUrban/index.htm)

Peacock is also helping to lead in the creation of the first ever, U.S. National Science Foundation-funded network of researchers dedicated to investigating disaster resilience, vulnerability and risk reduction.

posted November 6, 2011