Build Maine 2026 was the biggest ever. What should we do next?
We had over 320 registrations in 2026, after topping 300 for the first time last year. We are building a community, and want to hear from you about where we can go together.
We are reaching out to this big circle of planners, managers, developers, advocates, financiers, experts, officials, and placemakers with a survey asking you what we should be doing next.
Build Maine has been an annual conference since 2014, bringing together the best of Maine’s sustainable development community with experts from across the country. Now, the conference founders and organizers want to cast a wider net, and bring in more folks who want to build more of what makes Maine great.
Even if you were not at this year’s conference, if you see yourself in our charter, we want to hear from you. Here’s what you can do now.
1. Read Build Maine’s charter
Our charter lays out our shared values and principles. Read it here. Here’s a sample, below.
Build Maine views disinvestment in villages, towns, and cities, the spread of placeless high-cost sprawl, increasing isolation and loneliness, environmental deterioration, loss of agricultural lands and wilderness, and the erosion of society’s built heritage as one interrelated community-building challenge.
We stand for the restoration of existing village, town, and city centers, the reconfiguration of sprawling suburbs into communities of real, diverse neighborhoods, the conservation of natural environments, and the preservation of our built legacy.
There’s a huge challenge ahead of us. Maine has the nation’s oldest population, oldest housing stock, most rural settlement pattern, and the 6th highest rate of in-migration from other states. Combine all that with more extreme weather and it’s no surprise we’re seeing skyrocketing costs for housing and transportation, along with energy, health care, food, education, and everything else.
Give the charter a read, send us your feedback, and let us know what inspires you to get involved in the comments.
2. Fill out the Build Maine community survey
This year, in addition to the conference evaluation form, we’re asking you all for your take on issues like:
What are the biggest barriers to in-town housing production?
What activities should Build Maine lead in addition to the annual conferences?
What Maine’s next governor should do to promote sustainable towns?
Where next year’s conference should be held?
Click here to take the evaluation form and community survey. Even if you didn’t take part in the conference, you can skip through to the community survey. (Note: We tried to do this live at this year’s conference, but technical difficulties1 foiled us.")
3. Build Maine with us!
Do you see yourself in our charter? Did you get excited filling out our survey, or reading others’ responses, and want to get involved yourself?
We are seeking volunteers, committee members, local conversation leaders, fundraisers, organizers, creators and party hosts and nerds of all stripes to join us in taking on this one community building challenge. If you’d like to be involved in Build Maine, drop us a line at connect@build-maine.com.
That’s all for now, but watch this space. We’ll be looking for your survey replies to help us decide where to go with this next.
One of the charms of Build Maine is the volunteer-driven, scrappy, pop-up aesthetic. We held this year’s event in a century-old municipal performance hall, the gutted former printing press of the local newspaper, and a pristinely redeveloped former textile mill. When you do that, you may also not have the wifi you need for a live participant feedback mechanism. So be it! That’s why we’d love for you to fill out the survey now.