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Catching every Iowa Ideas session you'd like to see is a tall order. But with our In-Depth Week replays, you don't have to miss a thing! As session videos become available, we'll host links to them here so you can get caught up on anything you might have missed.
The concept of Creative Placemaking has been around for years, but a small group brought it front and center to Iowa. The Gazette welcomes back Zack Mannheimer, who first brought the topic of Creative Placemaking to the Iowa Ideas audience in 2017. What is creative placemaking, and how has Iowa embraced the work?
What are the unique pieces that define a thriving community? Hear from successful placemaking initiatives that built up their assets to make their geographic mark.
Building trust and encouraging partnerships from idea to launch. How does local support (or lack of) impact success of a placemaking initiative? How does a community sort through varying interests and interpretations of assets?
How do small wins in placemaking determine they are ready to become a destination? How does a community apply a concept that has gained local support and apply it as part of economic development strategy?
How do you balance the needs of an agricultural economy with environmental and human health? With two-thirds of Iowa’s waterways considered impaired and nearly one-third of the nitrate load in the Mississippi watershed coming from Iowa, why is policy change so difficult?
While it’s recommended that wells in the state are tested annually, most aren’t. What are the risks? What is the data telling us about private wells in the state and what are we learning about water quality from the tests?
An in-depth discussion looking at Iowa’s plan to reduce nutrient contributions from wastewater plants and non-point sources like farm fields. How has the plan evolved? What additional revisions are needed and what is the political appetite for making them happen?
Forever chemicals, or PFAS, have been getting significant attention, but other emerging contaminants are cause for concern in drinking water. Pharmaceuticals and other personal care products may also be having impacts on aquatic life in Iowa. This session will talk about PFAS as well as how emerging contaminants are catching the eyes of regulators and scientists.
We’ll talk with city leaders about the costs and challenges of providing water and whether other policy changes could be better. We’ll also look at the wastewater processes and the impacts those have on water quality.