Sessions

 
Year
 

Parking Might Be Killing Your Town

Henry Grabar | Journalist, Author, and Researcher

This session explores how the pursuit of the perfect parking space has forced us to sacrifice affordable housing, attractive architecture, walkable neighborhoods, and lively town centers in favor of congestion, sprawl, and waste.

 

The Value of Building in Existing Neighborhoods

Allison Thurmond Quinlan | Flintlock LAB

Allison seeks out design opportunities that can be lovable, sustainable, and walkable places so that we can save our productive and sensitive ecosystems from sprawl. Allison will also explore biases that are embedded in local property assessments and why so many communities are seeing property tax hikes to homeowners.

 

Highlights From Policy Action 2025

Build Maine and GrowSmart Maine innovated a new process for engaging a broad statewide conversation, best described as public policy crowdsourcing. Learn about the big policy moves from the 2025 session to improve built outcomes while reducing demand for development on rural lands.