Forward-thinking local governments are increasingly looking to new urbanism and smart growth development strategies to accommodate future growth. Peter Katz, Professor in Practice in Virginia Tech's School of Public and International Affairs in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, will speak at 4 p.m. Monday, April 19, in Hancock Hall Auditorium about issues facing communities that are trying to accommodate future growth with new development strategies.

His talk, "Beyond Zoning: New Approaches to Development Regulation" will address how new urban codes affect housing affordability, automobile dependence, property rights, and why architectural style is at times the least important element in these new codes. Katz says existing zoning ordinances often work against the implementation of urbanism and smart growth strategies, and that zoning is beginning to be seen as an impediment to mixed-use development.

Katz is a professor-in-practice at Virginia Tech's Northern Virginia Center, in Alexandria. He provides consulting services in the areas of real-estate marketing and community development. Katz works nationally and internationally with government agencies, real-estate developers, non-profit organizations, charitable foundations and civic associations. For several years, Katz has been a survey participant in Emerging Trends in Real Estate, an industry forecast co-produced by Price Waterhouse Coopers and Lend Lease Real Estate Investments.

The College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech is comprised of two schools, the School of Architecture + Design and the School of Public and International Affairs, and includes programs in architecture, art and art history, building construction, public administration and policy, interior design, industrial design, landscape architecture, government and international affairs, and urban affairs and planning. All programs strive to promote an understanding of the complexity of our environment and ways to improve that environment through thoughtful teaching and research in the design, planning, and construction fields. The college enrolls more than 2,200 students, offering 22 degrees programs taught by 130 faculty members.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become the largest university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top 30 research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs

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