Summit Recap

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The Summit may be over, but the learning & partnerships continue

300 gather at Summit for insights to building a stronger, healthier and more just Rhode Island

15 Panel Discussions • 58 Speakers • 67 Community Sponsors • 304 Registrants

1 Goal - Shaping a Better Rhode Island for All

As we emerge from one of the most disruptive global crises of our lives, the focus of the Summit was about how Rhode Island can best leverage smart growth principles to confront the pressing challenges of this moment... climate change, social, racial and environmental justice, lack of affordable housing, as well as neighborhood and Main Street revitalization without displacement.

Following a Welcome Back continential breakfast, Power of Place Summit attendees were greeted with opening remarks from Grow Smart RI Board Chair Michael Friedman, Governor Dan McKee and Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza.

Topics for the day included the imperative and opportunities to meet the demand for more housing and affordability through transit-oriented development and zoning reforms; moving forward with implementing the state's Transit Master Plan and Bicycle Mobility Plan; being smarter about how and where the state incentivizes renewable energy siting to safeguard vital natural resources; Empowering community stakeholders to shape the future of their neighborhoods and communties; making our streets and neighborhoods greener and safer for people of all ages and abilities; the role of smart growth in reducing climate changing emissions; and much more.

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Summit Scenes

Thank you once again to our

Summit Sponsors

Keynote Address:

Strong, Healthy and Just Communities in a Post-pandemic World

Keynote speaker Mike Lydon, an internationally recognized smart growth strategiest and tactical urbanist, shared extensive research he's done on the opportunities and imperatives (fiscal and otherwise) for leveraging smart growth principles to better manage land, transport and climate while improving community.

Click to view keynote (40 mins)

Click to view the keynote slide deck

Local Leader Keynote Response Panel

The Boston Globe's Dan McGowan moderated a post-keynote panel discussion including keynoter Mike Lydon, Lieutenent Governor Sabina Matos, Weayonnoh Nelson Davies of the Economic Progress Institute and Grow Smart RI's Scott Wolf.

Click to view panel discussion (21 minutes)

The 2022 Rhode Island Smart Growth Awards

The Summit was also an opportunity to showcase, celebrate and honor Rhode Islanders showing us the way to shape strong, sustainable and just communities across our state through innovative leadership, community revitalization/conservation and policy initiatives.

Congratulations to the award winners!

Representative June S. Speakman

Despite being a State Representative for only three years, June Speakman has emerged quickly as a highly influential legislator and a champion for a variety of Grow Smart’s RI’s priorities, ranging from Affordable Housing and the State Historic Tax Credit to Solar Siting Reform, Forest Conservation, and changing State Transportation priorities to advance the goals of the Act on Climate. Last year Speaker Shekarchi appointed her to chair a special legislative commission, created through legislation she sponsored, to study the Rhode Island Low and Moderate Income Housing Act. In 2021 she championed an amendment to the state budget to establish Rhode Island’s first permanent funding stream for affordable housing. At the same time, she has been a strong advocate for environmental protection and action on climate and resiliency. In 2021 she sponsored and helped achieve passage of the Forest Conservation Act which for the first time makes it official RI State Policy to conserve RI forests for their many values including meeting climate change goals. Earlier this year she introduced legislation that would make our state’s most important forests ineligible for incentives to develop renewable energy. The bill would also define preferred locations for renewable energy and authorize disincentives for renewable energy in non-preferred locations. She also recently co-sponsored legislation to align Rhode Island’s transportation investments with emission reduction goals and the Act on Climate, including better transit and bike infrastructure.

Hammetts Wharf Redevelopment Project, Newport

The 60,000 square foot Hammetts Wharf Project is part of a broader mixed-use development along Newport Harbor including several restaurants, an events venue and marina serving residents and visitors to Downtown Newport. More specifically, the hotel, restaurant and retail project is located on a former surface parking lot and what many considered a gap in the pedestrian-oriented America’s Cup streetscape. Given the waterfront location, resiliency was front of mind from a regulatory and long-range sustainability perspective. Placemaking and community access were also integral to the final design and built environment. The public sidewalk along the front of the property was significantly expanded with the addition of seating, extensive landscaping and introduction of additional elements to continue the theme of “stopping points” along the bustling pedestrian thoroughfare. The publicly accessible deck overlooking the marina and Newport waterfront has quickly become one of the favorite stopping points for locals and visitors and the project includes a publicly dedicated waterfront access along the marina frontage allowing pedestrians to continue along the Harbor Walk. The Hammetts Wharf project is the culmination of more than four years of planning, approvals and construction with an entirely Rhode Island based team, resulting in the opening in the summer of 2020.

Zoning Amendments for Equitable Development, Newport North End, Newport

On May 11, 2022, a resident-led effort earned the unanimous support of the Newport City Council for amendments to the zoning ordinance advancing equity in the development of the city's Innovation District, a mixed-use 50+ acre technology hub in the city's North End neighborhood. With the support of the Newport Health Equity Zone (HEZ), the Local Advisory Group (LAG) proposed three zoning amendments to spur workforce housing in large development projects, to sharply define future parks as well as civic and open space, and to set the ground rules for crafting Community Benefit Agreements (CBA's) based on independent community-impact reports. The North End, Newport's lowest-income neighborhood, comprised primarily of people of color, has been cut off from the rest of the city since the 1960s by the Pell Bridge's elevated ramp structure, which is soon to come down. With the spectre of displacement and gentrification swamping the residential neighborhood, the Newport HEZ helped launch the LAG in 2021 and recruited Smart Growth America, with help from Grow Smart RI, as a technical consultant to help convert resident priorities into an equitable-development strategy for the North End that is now a matter of public policy in the City of Newport.

Exhibits Cocktail Hour

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