DURP involved in a two semester exchange program

The Department of Urban and Regional Planning and the Department of Spatial Development, Infrastructure, and Environmental Planning, Technical University, Vienna are engaged in a two semester exchange program focused on the topic of Metropolitan Context, Strategic Positioning.  The program will run from January to August, 2008.

The focus of the program is to explore how several “cutting-edge” economic development theories – globally defined integration, network clustering techniques, innovation planning, and digital infrastructures – are manifested “on the ground” in the massive polycentric metropolitan areas that dominate the global economic development pattern.  In an era where employment clusters tend to be highly specialized and localized, the study group will examine four employment centers in the SOUTH FLORIDA urban region and four employment centers in CENTROPE (the Central European Region) urban region.

Faculty (University Professor Rudolf Griffinger) and staff (Research Associates Petra Hirschler and Gudrun Haindl) from two research centers at TU-Wien – the Center of Regional Planning and Regional Development and the Center of Regional Science – and seven advanced graduate students will visit the FAU Department of Urban and Regional Planning from January 26 through February 6, 2008.  While in South Florida, they will engage with FAU faculty and students in the conduct of physical, economic, social, and organizational analyses of four major employment centers:  Cypress Creek, Boca Raton, the Miami International Airport Area, and West Palm Beach.   Results of this effort will be showcased at a presentation on February 5, 2008 at the FAU-BCC HEC complex in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

The FAU team, under the guidance of Henry D. Epstein Professor of Planning David Prosperi includes eight competitively chosen graduate and undergraduate students (Delvis Anes, Andrea Hayes, Donald Johnson, Joan Junkala, Sherryl Muriente, Mark Pheterson, Benjamin Sens, and Mark Welsh) who will also visit Vienna and the CENTROPE urban region in May for a period of 10 days. 

Overall results of this joint international exchange program effort are planned to be showcased at two international conference settings:  CORP 08 in Vienna, in May, and the joint ACSP/AESOP (Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning)/Association of European Schools of Planning) conference in Chicago in July.

For further information please contact:  Ms. Andrea Hayes, Program Assistant, Planning Abroad Program, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Florida Atlantic University.