This lively and informative conference will bring together two of the hottest community development issues being debated today: affordable housing and smart growth. The Wisconsin Smart Growth legislation recognizes the relationship between these goals by requiring that a housing component be included in all local plans. But the nature of that relationship remains unclear.

Critics of rigid smart growth ordinances contend that the land use restrictions imposed drive up the cost and restrict the supply of housing. But advocates respond that no such market reaction has been demonstrated. The conference will feature experts who have devoted considerable thought to this issue, as well as government officials and professionals who deal with it on the front lines every day. Prominent urbanologist Witold Rybczynski of the University of Pennsylvania will offer his thoughts at a luncheon keynote address, and representatives from Portland, Oregon, often presented as the model for Smart Growth planning initiatives in Wisconsin, will reflect upon the way in which the housing market there has been affected.