Upcoming events
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Wed, Apr 16 01:30 PM
Healthy cities: Youth at the Intersection of Sustainable Cities & Well-being
About this event
Join CSU for Green Cities: Babcock Ranch, Florida, featuring guest speaker Tom Hoban and moderated by CSU board member Lance Jay Brown on Wednesday, April 9th from 12:00p to 1:00 p.m.
Talk Abstract:
Building Tomorrow: The Blueprint of Babcock Ranch
Babcock Ranch, the U.S.’s first solar-powered town, exemplifies how sustainable community design can integrate seamlessly with natural landscapes while prioritizing resilience and innovation. Built on principles of environmental stewardship, Babcock Ranch incorporates master-planned flow ways, restored wetlands, native rain gardens, and lakes to align development with natural systems, ensuring minimal ecological disruption and enhanced climate resilience.
Central to its identity is the Florida Power & Light Solar Energy Center, which powers the town with one of the nation’s largest solar-plus-storage systems. The town’s hardened utilities and integrated emergency management further underscore its commitment to sustainability and security.
Spanning 18,000 acres, with half reserved for greenways, parks, and trails, Babcock Ranch fosters health and wellness through walking paths, wider roads, and recreational amenities. Its community hubs, including Founder’s Square and Babcock Schools, provide vibrant spaces for education, commerce, and daily life. As a living model of innovation, Babcock Ranch inspires global communities to pursue sustainable, net-zero development goals and showcases the transformative power of designing with nature.
Speaker: Tom Hoban
Tom is the President, Chief Investment Officer, and Partner of Kitson & Partners, with over 27 years of experience in real estate and a strong background in capital markets. He oversees K&P’s strategic growth, managing a 1.5 million-square-foot retail portfolio and an 800,000-square-foot development pipeline, as well as leading the company’s Finance Division and Market Strategy team. Before joining K&P in 2003, Tom was a Vice President at Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund, where he executed over $8 billion in real estate transactions during his eight years on Wall Street. Tom graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with a BBA in Finance. He serves on the Advisory Board for Notre Dame’s Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate, the Economic Council of Palm Beach County, and volunteers with TOPSoccer. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute and the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Moderator/Host: Lance Jay Brown, FAIA, DPACSA, NOMA
Lance Jay Brown, FAIA, DPACSA, NOMA is a founding board member and Immediate Past President of the Consortium for Sustainable Urbanization He taught at Princeton and is the former Chair and Director of the Spitzer School of Architecture, CCNY. Educated at the Cooper Union he holds two master’s degrees from the GSD at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) He is ACSA Distinguished Professor for Life and received the coveted AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education. He has edited and authored numerous publications and consults, teaches, and lectures nationally and internationally.
Learning Objectives
Participants in this event will:
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Understand the integration of natural systems, such as restored wetlands and flowways, in sustainable urban planning.
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Explore how solar power and hardened utilities drive climate resilience in a modern community.
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Analyze the role of community-centric design elements, including trails and civic hubs, in promoting health and wellness.
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Examine the collaboration required to create and sustain a resilient, net-zero town that serves as a model for future development.
