Urban Planner OVERVIEW Indianapolis

Indianapolis is the fastest-growing region in the Midwest.Andit’s fast becoming a favoriteamongmeeting planners,thanks to a $3-billion investment in its convention package over the last five years.Newly expanded and freshly built projects include the Indianapolis International Airport,Lucas Oil Stadium,the Indiana Convention Center expansion,and Marriott Place Indianapolis.All will be open this month. Indianapolis has the three Cs prized by meeting planners: It’s compact,connected, and convenient.More than 4,700 rooms are connected to the Indiana Convention Center by climate-controlled skywalk—more rooms connected to a convention center than any other city in the country.The center is also connected to Lucas Oil Stadium and Circle Centre mall via enclosed walkways.More than two hundred restaurants lie within walking distance of the convention center.

INSPIRING OUTDOOR SPACES

Two groundbreak- ing projects are redefining the Indianapolis experience. The Indianapolis

Cultural Trail is an eight-mile separat- ed greenway that moves walkers and cyclists through the heart of downtown to key cultural and civic destinations. The trail was recently selected by New York City– based Project for Public Spaces as one of five global “success stories.” Additionally, the

city is transforming a three-block street that connects the Indiana Convention Center and Conseco Fieldhouse into an expansive, pedestri- an-friendly corridor that includes board- walks, cutting-edge lighting, trees, and green spaces (think Barcelona’s Las Ramblas). Areas also will be avail- able for outdoor

VARIETY OF VENUES: The Indiana Convention Center offers 566,300

square feet of contiguous exhibit space in 11 halls, plus 71 meeting rooms and

three ballrooms. The city is home to the world’s largest children’s museum, the century-old Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the Indianapolis

Museum of Art, which features one of the country’s largest contemporary- sculpture parks.

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cafés and perform- ance spaces. These two projects alone make it easy to see why America’s most walkable downtown can be found in

Indianapolis.