LEWISTON – Planning, development and environment research professor Richard Barringer will speak at the Great Falls Forum on Thursday.

The title of his talk is “Re-imagining Maine.”

Barringer argues that we have come into a wholly new political-economic era in Maine history, the fourth such era since the European settlement of Maine in the 17th century.

He examines the challenges and opportunities ahead and concludes that these will demand of us a new understanding of who we are as a community of Maine people.

And, that Lewiston-Auburn may well be leading the way.

Barringer teaches public policy and management and community planning and development at the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School.

He is also principal investigator for the Environmental Protection Agency’s New England Environmental Finance Center. He is the author or editor of numerous books, reports and landmark Maine laws in the areas of land use, education, the environment, energy, economic development and tax policy.

The forum is a monthly public platform for thought-provoking speakers and discussion. Everyone is welcome. No dues. No obligations. A question-and-answer period follows each talk.