Saratoga News
News
Weden will blow into Saratoga for 'Winds of Change' seminar
By Shannon Burkey
As the world continues to change and evolve each day, communities often wonder how to keep up and prepare for the future.
That is where Don Weden comes in.
For 34 years, Weden worked as a principal planner in the comprehensive planning
section of the Santa Clara County Planning Office and managed the most recent
revision of the county's General Plan.
Weden will bring his seminar, "Winds
of Change--Adapting Our Communities to the Changing Realities of the 21st
entury," to Saratoga to discuss the "winds of change" that will have an integral part in shaping the future of such communities. The League of Women Voters will host the free event on Nov. 16, 7-9 p.m., at the Saratoga Library.
"We and our children and our grandchildren will be facing major changes from demographic, environmental and economic forces over the next few decades," Weden said.
Being prepared for the inevitable changes that will occur is vital to having a viable community in the future. Although Weden said there is no simple solution, there are things that cities can start thinking about now.
For communities to prepare for the changes they will face, they first need
to realize that there are two types of changes that will occur, Weden said.
Cyclical changes, such as unemployment, will always come and go. Weden said those can be ignored because over time they will return to the way they were.
It is the permanent structural changes, such as when computers replaced
typewriters and the Internet arrived, that communities need to be prepared
for. It is through these structural changes that businesses can die and the employment base and tax base in communities can be reduced.
"Structural changes we can't afford to ignore; they are not going back to normal," he said.
In addition to preparing for the structural changes that are to come, there are seven major economic, demographic and environmental changes that Weden suggests will shape the future for decades. These "winds of change" are population growth, aging of baby boomers, global warming, economic competition, disaster potential, public health and energy.
"What these seemingly unrelated things have in common is they will all be impacted by how and where we house our future population," Weden said. "We're facing really challenging choices, and there is no easy solution."
Communities need to begin thinking now about how they can build for their future populations, according to Weden.
"The California population is projected to grow at a rate equivalent to the population of LA every eight years or the population of San Jose every two years. Over the next 10 years that is 10 more San Joses," Weden warned. "Those are challenges we are not really prepared for, and every community needs to be thinking about that."
Cities need to begin thinking about land use patterns and about creating more livable communities with walkable places for their residents, he said.
"Land use is one of the major things that will impact the future. Communities need to look long-term," Weden said. "We can't predict the future but we can certainly see trends in the future."
