David Lawrence Convention Center Tour
Date: Monday, May 11, 2026
Time: 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Cost: $5 per person
Registration Limit: 25 participants. Please send an email to Info@DelaneyMeetingEvent.com if you are no longer able to attend, so someone may take your place.
Description:
Learn about how the David Lawrence Convention Center became the first to hold multiple LEED Certifications and led the way for sustainable practices in structures of this scale. The tour will show how the building’s design works together with its day-to-day operations to keep the convention center among the most sustainable in the world, even nearly 25 years after it was built. Attendees will learn about technical components of the building and how stakeholder buy-in is fostered for new projects that help maintain its top-tier status.
Location and Transportation:
- David Lawrence Convention Center, 1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
RiverLife Walking Tour
Date: Monday, May 11, 2026
Time: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Cost: $10 per person
Registration Limit: 25 participants. Please send an email to Info@DelaneyMeetingEvent.com if you are no longer able to attend, so someone may take your place.
Description:
Pittsburgh sits at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers and the headwaters of the Ohio River. These waterways are an essential part of the city’s identity, economy, and wellbeing, but for centuries they have been treated as industrial conduits, rather than the rich ecosystems they once were. 26 years ago, city leaders came together to shift this mindset by creating Riverlife, a non-profit that creates, activates, and celebrates Pittsburgh’s riverfronts, connecting people through exceptional places and experiences. Since 1999, Riverlife has led a $150 million investment that has transformed decaying and abandoned spaces along Pittsburgh riverfronts into 15 miles and 1,055 acres of award-winning, nationally recognized parks, trails, and green space. With the progressive restoration of the city’s riverfronts, Pittsburgh’s rivers are beginning to be a home once again for life of all kinds, including threatened and endangered species, but much work remains to be done.
Riverlife and its partners at the City of Pittsburgh and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have worked over the past few decades to restore and improve existing riverfront parks, shifting focus from armored, vertical edges to natural banks, native species, green stormwater management, and other more resilient solutions. Tour attendees will walk through several completed projects that highlight past approaches to riverfront development and this turn toward initiatives that have ecosystem benefits, including recently restored Allegheny Riverfront Park and Point State Park. Following an exploration of these existing projects, the group will explore the site of the North Shore Ecosystem Restoration project, an Army Corps of Engineers-led effort to provide aquatic and riparian habitat restoration at the headwaters of the Ohio River. This work will soften the riverbank, mitigating the hard-edged vertical bulkhead located throughout the Confluence, which, in recent years, has contributed to increased wake and the elimination of aquatic habitat. It will remove invasive species and introduce native trees, shrubs, and understory plantings. The group will also discuss the environment as an educational opportunity, as the adjacent Kamin Science Center will be able to structure outdoor programming around this new aquatic ecosystem. Attendees will learn about the Corps’ Continuing Authorities program as a tool for these types of projects and catalyst for more ecosystem-oriented approaches to riverfront planning, design, and management.
Along the way, Riverlife staff will discuss site histories, project planning and delivery, and adaptive management of these spaces, including a review of UpKeep, a first-of-its-kind program to supplement care and maintenance services and provide permanent resources for habitat restoration. Attendees will come away with an understanding of Pittsburgh’s next era of riverfront development, with an eye toward resilient, adaptive spaces that benefit the ecosystem as a whole.
Location and Transportation:
- Exact tour locations will include multiple stops within walking distance of the Convention Center.
- No transportation is required. Participants will meet at the Convention Center and will walk together to the start of the tour.
Negley Watershed Tour
Date: Monday, May 11, 2026
Time: 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Cost: $15 per person
Registration Limit: 30 participants. Please send an email to Info@DelaneyMeetingEvent.com if you are no longer able to attend, so someone may take your place.
Description:
Join UpstreamPgh and Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Engineering Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CERCA) for a guided tour of the Negley Run Watershed. This urban watershed is characterized by flooding, environmental injustice, and underinvested infrastructure. UpstreamPgh convenes the Negley Run Watershed Task Force, which has been active for over a decade, co-developing a climate-resilient vision of the future that prioritizes nature-based solutions for these neighborhoods with residents, city agencies, and partners like CMU. This tour will stop at 3 strategic locations along the watershed to examine design interventions and impact.
Co-organized by UpstreamPgh and CERCA
Location and Transportation:
- Negley Run Watershed spans multiple neighborhoods on the east side of Pittsburgh.
- Transportation will be provided for participants. Participants will meet at the Convention Center and will be transported to and from the various stops within the watershed tour. There will be some walking within a slightly hilly urban context.
