In Using Historical Preservation for Redevelopment, moderator Ron Emrich, executive director of Preservation New Jersey and panelists James Holmes Coston, councilman and pastor of the First Baptist Church of the City of Trenton; David Henderson, managing member of HHG Development Associates, LLC and Mary-Anna Holden, mayor of Madison borough shared their experiences trying to save and restore historic buildings and downtowns. Their focus was on redevelopment through preservation rather than tearing down old buildings to start a new development from scratch.

LEED ND: A New Framework for Sustainable Neighborhood Development, introduced the audience to a new LEED designation: neighborhood development, which calls for an entirely sustainable and environmentally responsible neighborhood rather than just a single building. Moderator Daniel Hernandez of Topology, LLC and panelists Frances E. Hoffman, director of redevelopment with Somerset Development and Pat Morrissy, founder and executive director of the non-profit Hands Inc. described projects they were involved in and the challenges they faced.

The sessions were punctuated with lunchtime remarks by commissioners Joseph V. Doria Jr. of the department of community affairs and Lisa. P. Jackson of the state's department of environmental protection as well as a keynote address by Jonathan Rose, founder of Jonathan Rose Cos. LLC. Doria and Jackson both underlined the importance of teamwork and of having the state's department's work together to achieve sustainable development. Rose's talk centered around making useful, sustainable spaces where people can lead happy, healthy lives. Many of his company's projects are mixed-income developments, which some towns tend to be wary of.

"You have to remember, that the people living here are your parents, your children just out of school, it's not just occupied by the 'other'," he reminded the crowd. Rose also pushed the idea of environmental responsibility--most of his developments employ green technology and techniques, and his residential projects provide open space for families and communities to gather.

Jackson ably summed up the purpose of the meeting in her remarks. "New Jersey is highly developed, so everything here is redevelopment," Jackson said. "We have a canvas that needs to be shaped gently--people have to be able to afford to live here, we must adapt to climate change and we must build with environmental sustainability in mind."