Toni Griffin, an acclaimed architect and urban planner, is the keynote speaker for the 2016 Greater Erie Awards. Griffin, a Harvard University professor, has worked on urban design projects in Newark, N.J., on waterfront revitalization in Washington, D.C., and as director of DetroitWorks, with a new vision to rebuild that city. She has been a professor of architecture at the Spitzer School of Architecture at City College of New York, where she is the founding director of the J. Max Bond Center on Design for the Just City. You can learn more about her urban design work at ted.com/talks/toni_griffin.
The event also features a tribute to the late John Claridge, author of “Lost Erie,” and will present awards to three organizations that have creatively adapted local buildings for re-use: U-Frame It, a former soda fountain/drug store; Curry Spectacle, a one-time bank; and Victory Christian Center, located in an old Orthodox church, parish house and ethnic club.