Cities throughout Canada are growing rapidly. For the sake of citizens’ health and to slow the effects of climate change the biggest challenge is to transform auto-dependent suburban sprawl into walkable neighborhoods. Mayor James Brainard of Carmel, Indiana will speak at the 55thIMCL Conference on Healthy, 10-Minute Neighborhoods, in Ottawa, May 14-18, about how Carmel is achieving this goal.
Over the last 20 years, under Mayor Brainard’s leadership, the US city of Carmel, Indiana, (pop. 90,000) has seen a dramatic transformation of their sprawling commuter suburb of Indianapolis. Here, the first jobs were to redevelop the oldest part of town into a new Arts & Design District, and to create a compact, walkable, human-scale, mixed-use city center that draws people of all ages to its beautiful squares, parks and trails. See Mayor Brainard’s talk on Building a Healthy City Center. Residents strongly support the concomitant traffic calming (with now over 100 roundabouts) and identify with the classically-styled architectural language of the growing city center.
In 2013 Mayor Brainard was awarded the IMCL Joseph P. Riley Jr. Award “for his inspirational leadership in creating a vibrant, multi-functional heart for Carmel, IN.
In 2012 Carmel was acknowledged as the No. 1 Best Place to Live in America by CNN Money Magazine. Mayor Brainard was on former President Obama's Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, and represents the US on these issues around the world. See Mayor Brainard’s talk on Climate Change and Urban Design.