The Towards Carfree Cities conference series brings together people from around the world who work to promote practical alternatives to car dependence. The conference attracts professionals, advocates, and community leaders who focus on the creation of sustainable transportation systems and on the transformation of cities, towns, and villages into human-scaled environments rich in public space and community life.

"We've got nearly 2 million people living out here in the middle of the desert...maybe this is something planners should be concerned about?" Program Manager Daniel Lerch returns from the APA conference in Las Vegas, where climate change got a little more attention than last year, and peak oil barely any at all.

The Center for Energy, Environment and Economics at the New York Institute of Technology is hosting their third annual conference, titled Energy Shock and Climate Change: Sustainable Solutions for Converging Crises. A full day of speakers and panelists, including Post Carbon Cities' Daniel Lerch, will explore the issues of climate and energy uncertainty.

Presentations and reports presented at the 2007 Challenge of Global Warming and Peak Oil for Local Government conference, sponsored by the Municipal Association of Victoria (Australia), illuminate many aspects of the issue for local governments.

GreenGov Conference 2008 is an operations-greening conference for government agencies at all levels. Themes like "Show me the funding," "Green purchasing," and "Green buildings" will provide information for agencies working to make their operations more efficient.

Green roofs can significantly cut energy costs in buildings, reduce the urban heat island effect, cut down on stormwater problems, and as a bonus, make buildings more attractive and provide habitat. This conference is the place to learn more about them from all angles - from policy to installation and maintenance. Organized by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and the City of Baltimore.

The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) is the leading organization promoting walkable, neighborhood-based development as an alternative to sprawl. CNUXVI will be taking place in Austin, Texas. How do we make New Urbanism flourish in the suburbs and boomtowns of high-growth America? Join new urbanist practitioners for four days of speakers workshops, tours, and other events addressing the theme of bringing New Urbanist principles to bear on burgeoning metropolises.

The major challenge facing this and the next generation of architects, planners and builders is how to develop land use patterns that respond to the demands of the post-carbon age and provide a high quality of life for future generations. How our profession adapts to the need for reducing dependency on fossil fuels and contributes to the use of new technologies and approaches to planning and development that foster sustainability is critically important and will be the focus of this year’s Salzburg Congress on Urban Planning and Development.

"Inspired change-makers" from all over the world will come together at the seventh annual Ecocity World Summit to discuss and report on our progress toward ecological cities. Speakers include Richard Register, author of Ecocities, and Jaime Lerner, former mayor of Curitiba, Brazil.

From the first International Conference on Urban Sustainability (ICONUS) in Hong Kong, a report on some of the ideas that were shared. Two important threads: building social capital and public involvement can be critical to the success of a project, and renovation of existing stock has the potential to be much more sustainable than new building.