On September 20, 2011, the Center will hold the 12th Kratovil Conference on Real Estate Law & Practice: 40th Anniversary of the Quiet Revolution in Zoning and Land Use Regulation (“Kratovil Quiet Revolution Conference”). The Kratovil Quiet Revolution Conference will begin with an analysis of the impact The Quiet Revolution in Land Use Control, a book that discussed the shift from local to regional planning, has had on our nation and land use policy. National speakers representing the states involved in The Quiet Revolution in Land Use Control will analyze how The Quiet Revolution unfolded in these jurisdictions. The afternoon will then analyze the future of land use policy and how this national issue will play out around the country.
Once the national issues have been examined, the Kratovil Quiet Revolution Conference will turn to the future of the Chicago region as a case study. Efforts to coordinate the multitude of Chicago area jurisdictions have had limited success – one result is a leader in public transit, but also has the worst automobile traffic in the nation. Meanwhile, the Illinois legislature increasingly makes key land use decisions by siting things such as casinos and power plants one at a time, and by imposing unfunded mandates on local governments.
The Kratovil Quiet Revolution Conference continues the rich tradition in the Center of bringing together leading scholars, practitioners, and industry professionals to consider cutting-edge issues important to commercial real estate attorneys, their clients, industry leaders, and our society. The Kratovil Conferences are unique, because they address the policy and practical implications of issues of concern to the real estate industry and to the attorneys who practice in the field. It is the only forum presented by a law school involving the interaction between scholars, leading practitioners, and industry leaders on topics related to commercial real estate law and practice. The Kratovil Conference addresses the need to engage practitioners and scholars in the real estate area in order to produce scholarship that is directly relevant to the industry.
In connection with the Kratovil Conference, the Center works with the The John Marshall Law Review to publish articles authored by speakers at Kratovil Conferences in a special symposium issue. It is the tradition in legal education to publish the most important scholarship in law reviews and law journals. These are publications developed by students at nearly 200 law schools in the country. The John Marshall Law Review is the most prestigious publication at this law school. The Center distributes this symposium issue widely to scholars and leaders in the real estate industry. Thus, scholarship arising out of the Kratovil Conferences is preserved and distributed beyond the audience in attendance at the conference.
This national debate started with two scholars in Chicago, so it is a fitting site for a reexamination of this 40-year-old national debate and the legislation it produced. In 1971, the president’s Council on Environmental Quality published The Quiet Revolution in Land Use Control. The book described in detail the innovative land use laws in nine states around the nation which returned the control of land use to a state or regional level, largely at the expense of local zoning. This was the “ancient regime” being overthrown. This constituted the “quiet revolution.” Immensely influential (several thousand copies were purchased and distributed) in stimulating creative thinking by planners, lawyers, and public officials to solve difficult land use planning issues, the book also quickly became a fixture of courses in many university planning and law programs, as well as a handbook and sourcebook for state and local officials. Dozens of articles have been written about it, some recently. It remains a reading source in many courses taught today.
Committed funding sponsors include: Alvin H. Baum Family Fund, Chicago Title Insurance Company, Clarion Associates Inc., Clarion New Media, FIRSTGATE GROUP, Holland & Knight LLP, Victoria and Robert Berghel, Gregory Spitzer (partner at Paul Hastings), and Janet Johnson (partner at Schiff Hardin LLP).