? I hope this finds you well. I'm the programs coordinator at Van Alen Institute, a 125-year old urban design nonprofit, and wanted to invite you and your students to our upcoming round-table this Wednesday, April 3rd, addressing the future of development, design, and public space in Long Island City. Stephen Petrus, historian at LaGuardia college will be one of the speakers, and I'd love to get the word out to Queens College as well, especially the urban studies program. It's free with RSVP and will held at SculptureCenter. Our programs always have a mix of urban planners, designers, civic leaders and advocacy orgs, so it's a fantastic networking opportunity for any students interested in urban affairs. Our other panelists will be Christopher Hanway, Executive Director of the Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement, Zachary Hecht, Policy Director at TechNYC Sheila Lewandowski, Founding Executive Director of The Chocolate Factory, Margie Ruddick, Principal of Margie Ruddick Landscape and Design, and Frank Wu, President of the Court Square Civic Association. Here's a brief overview of the event, and you can see other upcoming events in the LICNYC series here<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.vanalen.org_projects_licnyc_&d=DwMFaQ&c=2tStSn3Yyb7CMXxZW9nuG-Sh-vz6mhnySBmFi7HdCsM&r=2JN5nHuqyVtTirpdDy4FpiMY28Jy4P3S1k1zs_jzodI&m=NYAwchdhi5eYTEayY9j9GyQYlAyNRNT4JDAj1vzczyc&s=S7T4sTj77wJD8LMComtAKKjsXfEBjLj11P39QIrkCD4&e=>. LICNYC: A Design Perspective / PT2 LIC Wednesday, April 3rd*, 7:00-9:00 p.m. Roundtable Discussion SculptureCenter 44-19 Purves Street Long Island City Well before Amazon proposed its 14-acre campus on the Queens waterfront, Long Island City was the fastest growing neighborhood in the country. From Court Square to the waterfront, new development and new residents have been settling around and within well-established communities, altering everything from the affordability of housing to the character of the neighborhood itself. Join designers, historians, planners, and community residents as they consider how design might help harmonize the old with the new and improve the quality of life amidst the surge of private development, and the everyday stress that comes along with rapid growth. This discussion will be moderated by Emily Nonko, an award-winning freelance journalist covering real estate, architecture, design, and urbanism, in the Wall Street Journal, Next City and Curbed New York. She has also written for The Atlantic, New York Magazine, Entrepreneur, Village Voice, New York Post, Observer, and CityLab. Hope to see you there! VAN ALEN Andy Sherman Programs Coordinator 30 West 22nd St.<https://maps.google.com/?q=30+West+22nd+St.+New+York,+NY&entry=gmail&source=g> New York, NY<https://maps.google.com/?q=30+West+22nd+St.+New+York,+NY&entry=gmail&source=g> 10010<https://maps.google.com/?q=30+West+22nd+St.+New+York,+NY+%C2%A010010&entry=gmail&source=g> asherman@vanalen.org<mailto:rreese@vanalen.org> 212 924 7000 x 15 vanalen.org<http://vanalen.org/> INSTITUTE