Program

The Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute was established to conduct education and research programs on legal and public policy issues related to land use and development. For more than 25 years, RMLUI has been leading a discussion in the West about the challenges presented by growth and innovative ideas for addressing them.

2019 Western Places / Western Spaces Conference
Designing for the Future: Building Enduring Value

For the 28th annual Western Places/Western Spaces conference, we looked at the ways in which the quality of design informs and shapes our communities. Read on for highlights from the event.

Keynote

RMLUI was honored to have Sarah Williams Goldhagen as the keynote speaker at this year's event. Her address focused on Human-Centered Design for Cities. Sarah Williams Goldhagen is an author, lecturer, and consultant on issues of architecture and landscapes, cities and urban design, infrastructure, and public art. She is the author of several books, including Welcome to Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives.

Watch the video of the keynote address.

Affordable Housing 101: An Introduction to Tools and Approaches

This year's workshop examined how affordable housing can be developed, exploring some of the existing barriers to affordability, as well as innovative tools that can be used to create permanent affordable housing. Download the workshop agenda for more information.

Plenary Lunch Events

On Thursday, we were very pleased to welcome Dr. Arthur C. Nelson back as a host of our plenary lunch event: The Great Senior Short Sale, a discussion on the growing mismatch between Boomers who want to sell their homes and buyers who can't afford them.

Our Friday plenary lunch was an exploration of The Disruptions of Driverless Mobility, presented by Rutt Bridges. The talk focused not only on the innovations that are happening with driverless technology, but also how these technologies will impact our communities.

Watch the video of The Disruptions of Driverless Mobility. Unfortunately due to technical issues, we are not able to provide a video of The Great Senior Short Sale.

Mobile Tours

On Thursday, attendees had the opportunity to visit the Sun Valley Ecodistrict, the site of one of Denver's most innovative new projects. The tour will cover a housing project, Steam on the Platte (an old warehouse re-purposed for office space), and the proposed site of Meow Wolf's Denver installation.

On Friday, attendees toured the National Western Center Campus, which included a discussion of sustainability on the site, the new riverfront open space, and the preservation of historic buildings.