Green Roofs for Healthy Cities invites you to submit a proposal for the Grey to Green Conference taking place in Toronto, ON on August 25th-26th, 2014.
Individuals or small groups of authors are encouraged to submit proposals for a presentation whose content could be conveyed in 25 minutes (including question period) on August 25th, 2014. Among the presentation proposals accepted for inclusion in the program, Grey to Green Conference organizers will group 3 presentations that are on a common topic or theme into one 90-minute concurrent session. Grey to Green Conference organizers will assign a moderator to the presentations that will be combined into a concurrent session.

Application Process:
Step 1: Read over the application carefully.
Step 2: All applications are due by end of day Wednesday February 19th, 2014.
Step 3: Only online applications will be accepted.
Step 4: Acceptance letters will be emailed to candidates by Monday March 12th, 2014, along with a powerpoint template, instructions on how to send your headshot photo, and other required documents needed. [Papers are not required.]
Step 5: If selected: a copy of your powerpoint presentation is due August 18th.

Green infrastructure is defined as natural vegetation and vegetative technologies that collectively provide society with a broad array of products and services for healthy living.

The theme of this two day conference will focus on the numerous ways in which green infrastructure can improve our social, economic and community health and well-being. Some of the leading edge topics we’d like to see explored at Grey to Green include:

Designing with Nature and the Bottom Line – how designing buildings with nature in mind can reduce costs, generate improved rents, and improve employee efficiency.

Greening Health Care Facilities – how LEED is helping to transform the hospital experience turning facilities into a healing modality.

Schools – how new restorative high performance green schools are improving the health of our children and their ability to learn more effectively.

Community/Participant Design – how engaging end users transforms the design process and can result in numerous cost savings.

The Air We Breathe – how green infrastructure such as urban forests plays an important role in clearing the air of particulates and other pollutants and saving lives.

The Water We Drink – leading edge jurisdictions are increasingly developing policies that rely on living green infrastructure to capture and manage stormwater, a major source of contaminants in our lakes, rivers and estuaries.

Thinking Big about Rising Temperatures – the urban heat island effect means increasing urban temperatures around the world, resulting in greater energy consumption, worsening air quality. Green infrastructure has a key role to play in fighting back against the overheating of our communities.

Food for Thought – the trend toward growing more food in cities is fueled by many important needs related to employment, improved health, social justice, food security concerns and the need to reconnect. We will explore how green infrastructure provides ample opportunities for food production, ranging from community forests and farms to commercial rooftop agricultural production.

Rethinking Parks – increasingly parks are seen as serving multiple functions in urban areas, beyond traditional recreational spaces. They are becoming focal points for community cohesion, managing stormwater, protecting biodiversity, tourism, generating tax revenue and more.

Biodiverse Cities – every third mouthful of food you can thank a pollinator for. The collapse of bee populations is of great concern and there are important opportunities to protect many species of ‘beneficial’ insects in urban areas. Biodiversity is becoming urban.

Employment Opportunities - there are a wide range of opportunities associated with generating much needed employment through green infrastructure investment and development.

Voluntary Standards – understand how green infrastructure is incorporated into LEED, Living Building Challenge, and Sustainable Sites.

Integrated Design Process – Involve multi-disciplinary professionals into the design process to achieve the desired outcomes.

Speaker Benefits

• Extensive Exposure! Your name, bio, and presentation description will be featured on www.greytogreenconference.org and listed in our onsite printed guide. We will also be conducting a PR campaign, designed to increase interest in the conference and your presentation.
• As a speaker you will receive a reduced rate of $199 + HST on the Delegate registration package, which includes lunch, trade show, all the sessions and networking receptions 
• An invitation to the VIP reception on Sunday August 24th, 2014. 
• Speaker Gift – A copy of The Rise of Living Architecture Commemorative Edition(c) Book