Did you know that Washington, D.C. is a national model for good urban planning, thanks to the proliferation of its Walkable Urban Places (WalkUPs)? Ranked higher than New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Chicago, the country’s capital boasts dozens of pedestrian-friendly zones, extending from the district’s downtown to its outlying suburbs. Given current problems in places like Barcelona and Venice, where the influx of tourists is undermining the cities’ livability, visitor-friendly urban planning is becoming increasingly important and of particular interest to GW scholars along with city planners, real estate developers, hotel owners, and others interested in city planning.
GW’s International Institute for Tourism Studies (IITS) and its Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis (CREUA)—which have been conducting cutting-edge research on urban walkability and tourism—will be offering a three-day Executive Leadership Institute on September 21 to 23 at the GW School of Business.
The program will cover GW’s current research findings, research methodologies, and practical strategies and tools for enhancing a city’s appeal and quality of life. It’s particularly designed for real estate developers, government officials, nonprofits and place-based institutions, such as business improvement districts, neighborhood associations, historic preservation districts, and cultural heritage routes.
Professors Don Hawkins and Salvador Anton Clavé are two of the program presenters. Dr. Anton Clavé, a Visiting Research Scholar at the IITS and a Full Professor of Regional Geographical Analysis at the Rovira i Virgili University in Catalonia, Spain, has been studying new models for WalkUPs that can promote economic development and create positive relationships between locals and visitors. His work dovetails with that of Dr. Hawkins, founder of the IITS, who has been collaborating with the CREUA on the development of a methodology that analyzes the particular advantages of WalkUps.
For more information and to register for the program, click here. You can download the program’s PDF brochure here.
