Build Maine Speakers and Workshops

Maine is one of the most car dependent states in the country. The costs of a car dependant society are piling up with massive, unforeseen consequences for our health, environment, budgets and society. Are conversations about alternative forms of transportation relevant to Maine, the most rural state in the country? Given our aging population, rising fuel and energy prices, and our ecotourism-based economy, should Maine consider other ways to structure our transportation system? Sarah Goodyear, podcast co-host for ‘The War on Cars’ and co-author of Life After Cars, will start the conversation.

Vacant properties impose significant financial and social costs on communities— but with the right approach, they can become catalysts for meaningful transformation. Drawing from nationally innovative approaches, the Center for Community Progress will showcase how intentional interventions can transform declining properties to advance home-ownership, neighborhood revitalization, workforce development, and more, with a focus on examples from rural and comparable communities. Central to this work is a strong understanding of key tools, including data collection and analysis, code enforcement, delinquent tax enforcement, and land banking. The session will also explore Maine Redevelopment’s emerging role in addressing vacant properties statewide and offer insights into how communities can collaborate with the State to drive lasting impact across Maine.

As the affordable housing crisis intensifies, communities nationwide struggle to create solutions that honor local context and foster connections, and that provide better alternatives to placeless, isolating subdivisions and apartment complexes. With over 140 affordable communities designed across the rural-to-urban transect, Jeremy Lake will share how affordable housing can both integrate seamlessly into communities and create high value, high-density places. Drawing from a number of diverse built projects, Jeremy will reveal how thoughtful design choices - from building typology to community amenity placement - can produce affordable neighborhoods. While these neighborhoods share fundamental design principles, each demonstrates how fine-tuned adjustments can respond to unique local context, offering practical strategies drawn from extensive experience.

Eric shared an expansive compendium of strategies for increasing the supply of housing. His presentation covered how to identify, break down, and solve problems that are holding back communities from being socially vibrant and economically productive. Those problems take many forms, including underutilized buildings, poor urban design, outdated, restrictive zoning codes, or a lack of variety as it relates to residential and commercial buildtypes. He speed walked through best practices that cover zoning and subdivision ordinances, building codes, and financial systems to support flourishing communities. He touched on policies at both the local and state level, recognizing that it often takes both to achieve better outcomes, as well as implementation strategies like pilot projects and pre-approved plans as tools to facilitate better outcomes.

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.

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.

Build Maine and GrowSmart Maine innovated a new process for engaging a broad statewide conversation, best described as public policy crowdsourcing. Learn about work that started in 2019, involving hundreds of people across the state, and the big policy moves from the 2025 session to improve built outcomes while reducing demand for development on rural lands.

Housing cannot be both a basic human need and right as well as a financial instrument on which the entire economy is built. Chris Allen will unpack what communities can do to combat the downsides of market based housing and how to create truly affordable options. He will also explore the financial argument for locating housing near service centers rather than on rural lands far from jobs centers.

This interactive session lead by Nancy Smith, with GrowSmart Maine, follows Chris Allen's presentation about Unlocking Housing. Smith invites the audience to explore policy ideas that promote housing in locations that work for Maine communities.

Monte Anderson, president of Options Real Estate Investments, Inc., is a practicing real estate developer in the community where he grew up. He also teaches and coaches communities and neighborhoods across the nation that are underserved, impoverished, and forgotten, and feels he has a solution for them. His answer is encouraging and empowering local ownership of real estate to help reverse the erosion of the middle class and to drive reinvestment into our communities. Join Monte to learn about The 12 Steps of Town Making, a book he coauthored with his partners at Neighborhood Evolution, on how small-scale development and local ownership can help revitalize neighborhoods. He will also share his work in transforming obsolete properties into vibrant gathering places for local residents. His work has proven that people across the country want something better than the next big apartment complex or strip mall.

The time for Building Small has come. Join this session and gain real world knowledge, inspiration, and valuable insights to the power of incremental, and more organic community building approaches. Jim will share his book, Building Small, an inspiring and educational call-to-action. This 250-page toolkit champions fine grained, evolutionary development as a way to support more resilient local economies, foster more authentic places, heal and grow disinvested neighborhoods, and provide a democratic form of community building that spans age, economic means, and the rural to urban transect. Building Small presents an insightful view at what is possible along with the tools needed to make it happen.

Over the next fifty years, millions of Americans will be caught up in this churn of displacement, forced inland and northward in what will be the largest migration in our country’s history. In other words, they’ll be coming to Maine. Jake Bittle is a staff writer at Grist, where he covers climate change. His work has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper’s New York Magazine, The New Republic, and numerous other publications. He is the author of The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration. Join us to learn more about the extent to which climate migration will impact Maine, and why planning will become an increasingly necessary activity to protect what we love most about our state.

Maine has a finite amount of time to determine whether we will learn from America’s costly suburban mistakes, or continue to erode our treasured way of life. The choice between farms vs. highways, vast uninterrupted timber forests vs. low density residential sprawl, NIMBYism in our downtowns vs. embracing development where we need it most, open roads vs. traffic choked arterials - these are all choices we will make, either through apathy and non-action or through intentional work to change our land use development system. Tom will share inspiration and the steps we must take to develop in a way that Mainers will in fact love.

Build Maine and GrowSmart Maine innovated a new process for engaging a broad statewide conversation, best described as public policy crowdsourcing. Learn about work that started in 2019, involving hundreds of people across the state, and the big policy moves from the 2023 session to improve built outcomes while reducing demand for development on rural lands.

Hear the latest state policy and funding updates from the MaineDOT, GOPIF, DECD, and Maine Housing.

Efforts to expand passenger rail to Lewiston, Waterville, Augusta, Bangor, and other inland communities have faced resistance, pointing to Maine’s small population as the reason. As more people move to Maine to escape climate issues in other states, suburban development and related traffic impacts continue to erode our regional road system. Maine has an opportunity to think bigger about the future of transit, recognizing the greater return on investment associated with transit-oriented investment in existing community centers, the benefits of locating housing near jobs, and the potential for inter-city rail to support regional and local micro-mobility. Join a conversation with voices from rural Maine to explore how strategic investment in rail can fuel our communities.

Communities in Maine and across the U.S. are facing both a housing access crisis and a climate crisis. New housing cannot be built quickly enough, and existing supply is under threat from more frequent and intense climate events. How can Maine communities prioritize building in locations less susceptible to harm and how can historic communities, many of which are based around charming but vulnerable settings such as waterfronts, realistically adapt? Hear from Katharine on strategies to integrate resilience and pro-housing approaches, as well as SmartGrowth America’s efforts to break down silos between climate and housing policy at the Federal level.

Local businesses are the heart and soul of Main Street, serving as hubs for social connection and economic growth. Learn about the innovative ways that Main Street businesses can overcome the adversity of the on-line economy, whether it’s starting a new enterprise or keeping a multi-generation business alive. This session will also explore how high growth businesses and changemakers can be empowered to start businesses, creating wealth for their families and improving outcomes for their communities. This session will highlight work being done in communities across the U.S. to refocus on quality of place and break down barriers to entrepreneurial opportunity in communities that have been left behind by the global economy.

Northern New England states are making big moves to shift to a place-based approach to investment by strengthening state and regional support for local planning and coordinating state funding in service of local housing and development projects. Learn about new programs to provide a state-level path to project approvals in New Hampshire, tools to help enable small-scale building types in Vermont, realignment of programs to support planning by Maine communities, and more.Building Small presents an insightful view at what is possible along with the tools needed to make it happen.

Ashleigh will talk about streets, buildings, and the value that is created when we look holistically at our communities and neighborhoods. How do we create places with purpose, that aren’t only safe, accessible, and high value, but also beautiful? What are the principles that differentiate neighborhoods from projects? Can we create policies, practices, and places with beauty in mind?

Matthew Petty has not only been building small scale real estate projects, but he’s also pioneering a new approach to development approvals. “Pattern Zoning” has been adopted in several communities as a way to pre-approve building types and make it easier for people to invest in a community vision. See what’s possible when we remove barriers to development, front load the public engagement process, and make it easier to build what cities and towns want.

Hear the latest updates on MaineDOT’s new program to help reinvest in Maine villages, towns, and city centers. Municipalities have an opportunity to bring forward projects through partnerships with MaineDOT; restoring villages to a human scale, striking a balance for all users and revitalizing the economic and cultural vibrancy of Maine’s quintessential villages and downtowns. Dale will provide an overview of the technical support and funding strategy DOT is putting in place for transformative projects that help realize local transportation and placemaking goals. Learn more and get inspired to bring local projects to life though this incredible opportunity.

John will set the stage for Build Maine’s first ever hands-on work session! Conference participants will work over base maps of catalytic sites across Maine and re-imagine these critical spaces. John will set the stage for this creative work by describing how to get the right details right and why it matters. He will also provide the instructions for the hands-on activity. This will be a great opportunity for people to get inspired and think about project opportunities that might exist in their own communities.

Jeff Siegler is the founder of Revitalize, or Die, a community revitalization firm dedicated to fighting apathy by fostering civic pride. What Jeff lacks in patience and eloquence, he makes up for in passion and honesty. He believes revitalization has the power to transform people’s lives, foster a stronger sense of community, enhance quality of life, and provide people with more enriching experiences. Don’t miss this chance to get re-energized around the work that you do to help revitalize our communities, which Jeff says is the most important work we can do.

What does truly sustainable design look like at the building and neighborhood scale? Kathryn will share the findings from her recent book, Building Reuse: Sustainability, Preservation, and the Value of Design. Learn about how reusing and re-imagining existing buildings can reduce carbon emissions, spur economic growth, and improve neighborhood character.

Typically, communities create streets and utilities to facilitate development. Yet rising land prices near new or improved infrastructure often chases development to cheaper, but more remote sites. The resulting sprawl is bad for the environment and bad for municipal budgets due to the necessary duplication of expensive infrastructure. While towns and cities create enormous value through public services, they often struggle for funds. Rick Rybeck will share how some communities have overcome these ongoing fiscal challenges while also providing more affordable housing and commercial space.

Learn simple solutions to reclaim streets and make our downtowns and neighborhoods safe again for a broad range of human and economic activity. Jeff Speck, author of Suburban Nation and Walkable Cities, will share lessons from his latest book, Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places, a tool-kit for urban activists. He will describe the primacy of walkability in building more vital, resilient, and appealing cities.

Team Better Block temporarily re-engineers auto-dominated urban areas into vibrant centers. Their iterative approach is both scalable and hyper-local. Having been used in over 200 cities, The Better Block approach provides elected officials, leaders, and citizens with a greater understanding of the urgent need for more permanent change. Andrew, the principal of Team Better Block, will share lessons learned from an all-hands-on-deck approach to urban design.

With a focus on downtown neighborhoods, energy efficiency, and sustainability, Jenifer Acosta revitalizes communities through targeted community investment. An affordable housing advocate turned real estate developer, Jenifer will shed light on her approach to building community trust, collaborating regionally, and resurrecting buildings on the precipice of demolition.

National retail consultant and Harvard lecturer Bob Gibbs shares his secrets on what sets successful small business apart from the internet giants.

Panel discussion with two rockstar Maine retailers, Colby Horne of Colburn Shoe Store and Roxi Suger of Angelrox and Suger, moderated by Robert O'Brien of Maine Downtown Center.

Art sets places apart. Hear from public art professionals on how to cultivate partnerships to realize impactful projects that your community can afford -- plus places to find funding.

Learn how you can transform vacant lots, alleys, and unfriendly streets into vibrant spaces that attract foot-traffic and a positive vibe in your downtown.

Bo Kennedy, Project Manager & Engineer at Placemaker Partners, LLC, contributes to the 'State of Maine' address at the annual Build Maine 2017 conference, held in June 2017.

The car industry has known for years how to predict consumer reaction to vehicle design. Ann will share new research, using eye-tracking technology that proves beauty is in fact biological. Find out how your town or city can use these findings to attract people to your community.

Eric will highlight how small-scale infill can breathe value into downtowns and provide a way for more people to break into the real estate development field. He will also help municipalities understand where zoning and other policies can suppress incremental development.

Patrick will share recent examples of the New York City Department of Transportation’s efforts to shift the use of public space away from vehicles and toward pedestrians, cyclists, and civic space.

Find out how temporary, inexpensive materials have been effectively deployed to more quickly improve streets in Memphis, saving money and building economic value.

Public engagement is not an end. It’s a means to an end. A tool for getting things done. And like any tool, how it’s used makes all the difference. In this session, Scott discusses the community dynamics frequently at play — like politics, mistrust and fear — and suggests ways to overcome them through more strategic, context-driven and outcome-oriented thinking.

Every city struggles with how to regulate parking and manage competing interests, time and again repackaging the same old rules that continue to drive undesirable development. Shoup will lay out a strategy for how cities can repeal archaic parking regulations and adopt new approaches focused on market demand, data, and desired development.