Urban planning practitioners and theorists gathered April 17 at the Japanese American National Museum for the 2008 Conference on Urban Development in Los Angeles. The conference titled, “Public-Private Partnerships for Transit Oriented Development and Affordable Housing: The Power of Collaboration,” examined how private and non-profit developers, local governments, and communities can collaborate to address Los Angeles’ transportation and housing ills.The discussion focused on how public-private partnerships can be functional vehicles for building effective transit-oriented developments, and how they can generate more affordable housing for Los Angeles. “The Public-Private Partnerships conference started a dialogue between developers, architects, planners, and city officials as to how this can happen,” said UCLA Department of Urban Planning Chair, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, who participated in the event. “Los Angeles is in desperate need of affordable housing,” she added. The conference was sponsored by the UCLA Department of Urban Planning and the Urban Planning Alumni Council. The Urban Planning Department is one of three (Public Policy, Social Welfare, and Urban Planning) that comprise the UCLA School of Public Affairs. Experts in the public, private, non-profit and academic sectors included: Public Sector: Cecelia Estolano - Executive Director of the LA CRA, Alumni, UCLA Department of Urban Planning Gail Goldberg - City of Los Angeles Planning Director Ed Reyes, Los Angeles Councilman, District 1, Alumni, UCLA Department of Urban Planning Roger Moliere - Director of Real Estate Development, MTA Diego Cardoso - Executive Officer, Transportation and Development Implementation, Metro, Alumni, UCLA Department of Urban Planning Private Sector: John Given - Principal, CIM Group Tony Salazar - Principal, McCormack Baron Salazar Katherine Perez - Vice President of Development, Forest City Enterprises, Alumni Council Member, UCLA Department of Urban Planning Bob Rodino, Ph.D., - Principal, Great Urban Places, Alumni Council Member, UCLA Department of Urban Planning Stanley R. Hoffman - President, Stanley R. Hoffman Associates, Inc., Alumni Council Member, UCLA Department of Urban Planning Bill Witte - President, The Related Companies of California Nonprofit Sector: Ann Sewill - Community Foundation Land Trust, Alumni, UCLA Department of Urban Planning Paul Zimmerman - Executive Director, Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing Academia: Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Ph.D., - UCLA Dept. of Urban Planning Neal Richman - Director, UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, Alumni Council Member, UCLA Department of Urban Planning These leaders in real estate development, urban planning, urban design, and community advocacy debated and promoted strategies to bring about change in how Los Angeles neighborhoods are built. Videos from the event can be found at http://www.spa.ucla.edu/up/ppp/video/