Abstract CMS 97-29780 "Urban Approaches Open Forum" Dr. Bernard Ross, American University This award is made to the Department of Public Administration at American University to develop, implement and manage an "Urban Initiative - Urban Approaches (UA) Open Forum." The Open Forum will convene both researchers and a wider spectrum of urban partners - those who educate, implement, manage, regulate, and support the people and systems which contribute to the quality of urban life. The invitees will include representatives from federal, state and municipal agencies, public and private sector service providers, professional organizations and research institutes, and political and community leaders. The Open Forum will focus on current and planned approaches to urban system's management,, identification of opportunities for research connections, knowledge mining from existing data resources, development of a set of research needs, which will evolve into a long-term UA vision for the 21st century. The goal of the Open Forum is to achieve a different form of integration - a vertical integration among the interests of researchers and the needs of those who look to the researchers for answers to their problems. It is anticipated that the Open Forum will include a dialogue with concentration on current and planned approaches for integrated research and education on the urban environment and providing vision and recommendations for future research. Thus, the Open Forum will enhance the design of efforts to build upon, support, and complement the efforts of UA stakeholders. Among UA-related research topics scheduled for discussion are urban sprawl and sustainability; urban brownfields; urban infrastructure; regional governance and urban politics; "urban" as a spatial unit of analysis; urban education and public-private partnerships. The challenge of the Open Forum is to provide an open environment in which researchers and practitioners feel at ease discussing research needs which transcend disciplines and sectors. The emphasis will be on how the practitioners can inform the research process, and how some of the nation's best scholars can respond to a cogent statement of perceived needs as identified by a cross-section of practitioners. ***
