New Year, New You, New Staff Report

December 27, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET

Guest Host: APA Kansas

Staff reports continue to be the most common and best way for planners to communicate community legal standards and goals to elected and appointed officials, colleagues, applicants, and citizens. However, these documents often fall flat or are unread or, quite frankly, left unloved sitting on the sidelines. It is time for planners to get in the game. It is time to reclaim the power of the staff report, the power of teaching, communicating, listening, and showcasing planners’ expertise and their love of their communities. Leave that dusty old staff report behind and focus on efficiencies (templates, AI, apps), storytelling, and leading through better planning practices. It’s a new year, so time to renew those staff reports (and the planners who write them).

CM 1.5
Register

Accessory Dwelling Units & Equitable Land Use Policies

January 17, 2025 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET

Guest Host: APA Planning and the Black Community Division

Zoning can be a leading cause of inequity in America, and progress will not be made until we start to break down the barriers of inequitable land use regulations. Moreover, zoning reform is only beneficial to those that have access to capital. Eric Kornberg of KRONBERG URBANISTS + ARCHITECTS will discuss how financing ADUs is one of the most inequitable aspects of small scale development. He will share ways to layer on affordability requirements that coincide with land use reform. These affordability requirements can soften the impact of redevelopment for residents, but it is the access to capital and training to be one’s own developer that is crucial to better outcomes.

CM 1.5
Eq 1.0
Register

Emerging Practices for Local Approval of EV Charging Stations

March 8, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET

Guest Host: APA Transportation Division

How should planning and zoning issues be considered for the installation of electric vehicle (EV) charging? This session will discuss planning, zoning, and permitting for EV charging — the challenges and lessons learned. National building code organizations have dedicated considerable attention to developing model codes to provide local officials with the guidance needed to address health and safety concerns of the installation and operation of the charging equipment. However, local approval often goes beyond code review to include planning and zoning concerns for land use, parking, traffic, design, and aesthetics. These concerns cause reviews to get hung up with zoning staff, zoning boards, and commissions. Hear how these issues have been addressed by the Sustainable Energy Action Committee (SEAC) Electric Vehicle Charging Working Group through their collaborative effort with RMI, IREC, electric vehicle service providers, and local planners. The group’s recently released report, Planning and Zoning Guidance for Electric Vehicle Charger Deployment, is available online.

How do these solutions work in practice? Hear about the EV Smart pilot program and Distributed Energy Resource Permit Accelerator Pilot- two programs that support local jurisdictions in setting and achieving equitable EV-readiness goals. See how cities and counties in Ohio, Michigan, and Minnesota are working to streamline their permitting and inspection processes, improve regulatory practices and their broader efforts to attract EVs and the charging stations necessary to support them.

CM 1.5
SR 1.0
View Recording

Trails as Resilient Infrastructure

March 22, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET

Guest Host: APA Sustainable Communities Division

Trails are part of a resilient transportation infrastructure system and can be planned and designed to be resilient and sustainable, as well as play a role in emergency planning and response. Trails of all kinds are places for recreation, exercise, and active transportation. They are also a crucial tool for making communities more resilient in the face of climate change and other emergencies. Multi-use trails can help reduce carbon emissions by shifting more trips to walking, biking, and rolling. Urban, suburban, and rural trail corridors present opportunities for managing stormwater, improving water quality, providing wildlife habitat, and inhibiting the spread of fires, among other benefits. However, trails can also be particularly vulnerable to climate impacts. This session will examine the ways in which planners can work towards making trail infrastructure more resilient to environmental shocks and stresses as well as towards allowing trails to strengthen the resilience of the surrounding community. Presenters from Trust for Public Land and Toole Design Group will provide information and guidance in support of these goals, based on recent programs and experience.

CM 1.5
SR 1.0

View Recording

The Relevancy Guidebook: How We Can Transform the Future of Preservation

May 3, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET

Guest Host: APA Urban Design & Preservation Division

Join Landmarks Illinois CEO Bonnie McDonald to discuss the preservation field's current challenges based on her interviews with preservation professionals and advocates. Key findings from the Relevancy project include creating a just preservation movement, dismantling preservation's "culture of preciousness," focusing on affordable housing, addressing climate change, and preservation job opportunities.

CM 1.5

Recording Coming Soon

Recording Coming Soon

Take me out to the Ballgame: Connecting Stadiums to Communities

June 21, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET

Guest Host: APA Urban Design & Preservation Division

When carefully planned with their surroundings, new sports facilities offer the opportunity to revitalize communities, promote economic development, and create great places. Learn lessons from renowned urban designer and architect Janet Marie Smith, who was instrumental in designing the pioneering Orioles Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, the renovation of Fenway Park in Boston, and the recent modernization of Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles.

CM 1.5

View Recording

GIS Automation for Planners: Model Builder

July 12, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET

Guest Host: APA Technology Division

Automating software workflows enables planners to conduct analysis to inform decision making accurately and efficiently, opening up more time to engage with results. In this webcast, planners will be introduced to the capabilities of ArcGIS Pro's Model Builder, with a focus on its components and advanced features like iterators and model-specific functions. The session will provide practical tips for creating efficient, modular workflows alongside guidance on developing parameterized tools from models, and considering aspects like workspaces and documentation. Additionally, we'll discuss the limitations of Model Builder in handling highly complex workflows. This session is tailored for planners looking to integrate GIS automation into their work, offering practical insights for effective application to common planning tasks.

CM 1.5
View Recording  Session Supplemental Resources

Innovative Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Resilience

August 2, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET

Guest Host: APA Massachusetts Chapter

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) provide many co-benefits. This session will explore how Devens is integrating NbS into all development projects through a combination of education, incentives, and regulations to further the sustainable redevelopment of this former military base. This session will also explore how Devens is using biometric tools to measure the impact of NbS on the subconscious, supporting the design of places and spaces for people first. The Apple Country Natural Climate Solutions Project and Ayer-Devens Pocket Forest Project will be featured as innovative and replicable tools that communities can use to help integrate the natural and built environment.

CM 1.5
SR 1.0
View Recording

D-PRAT and Serving the Underserved: Lessons on Creative Partnerships

August 23, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET

Guest Host: APA Urban Design and Preservation Division

For too many disadvantaged communities, change for the better remains elusive. Access to planning and urban design expertise is limited and often non-existent. The American Planning Association’s Urban Design and Preservation Division (UDP) created and deployed the Design and Preservation Rapid Assistance Team (D-PRAT) to solve problems related to planning, urban design, and historic preservation in collaboration with local governments and community organizations. This unique program has allowed us to engage UDP members as volunteers to help create various partnerships with communities across the country and include other supporting regional and state agencies to address problems on topics such as equity design, climate adaptation, placemaking, historic preservation and main street revitalization. D-PRAT offers a model that can be applied to communities from small rural areas to dense urban centers. The program is centered on an intense two-day workshop focused around a quick-response strategy while daylighting the steps needed to build the framework for long term revitalization opportunities. This unique program has allowed us to engage UDP members as volunteers to help create various partnerships with communities across the country and include other supporting regional and state agencies to address problems on topics such as equity design, climate adaptation, placemaking, historic preservation and main street revitalization. 

CM 1.5
View Recording

Regenerative City Symposium: Innovation Towards Sustainability Success

September 20, 2024 | 12:00 - 1:30 PM ET

This symposium will explore leading innovations in urban sustainability planning and the Regenerative City they help to create:  a net positive city whose built environment is planned and renovated to mimic nature’s economy and includes a larger circular renewable-energy economy to lay the foundation for sustainability and climate success and inclusive prosperity. Featuring:

• Kirstin Miller, AICP, Executive Director & Founder, EcoCity Builders, EcoCity Framework and Standards Initiative.
• Timothy Beatley, PhD Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities, Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, School of Architecture, University of Virginia, and Executive Director & Founder, Biophilic Cities and The Biophilic Institute.
• Vatsal Bhatt, PhD, Vice President, LEED for Communities, USGBC, and Program Founder/Lead, USGBC – LEED for Cities & Communities.
• Julio Carrillo, AICP, LEED AP ND, Sr. Planner & Manager with Parkhill’s Planning Sector, Founder/Lead, Planning 2050 Initiative.
• Charles Kelley, AIA, LEED AP B+C, Principal, Green Urban Design, International/Pacific Practices
• Scott Edmondson, ACIP, ISSP-SA, Principal, Regenerative Sustainability Institute 2030, Sr. Planner-Analyst, SF Planning, Regenerative City and the Case of Rebuilding Ukraine: Rebuilding back better with sustainability in mind.

This is a special symposium hosted by the APA Sustainable Communities and International Divisions Working Group collaboration on Climate & Sustainability, part of the Sustainability & Resiliency Series. For additional information on this symposium and a detailed description, visit www.sustainability2030.com/regencitysymposium-1. Questions may be directed to scott-e@sustainability2030.com, with “Symposium” beginning the subject line.

CM 1.5
SR 1
View Recording

Sustainable Urban Design: A Comprehensive Approach

October 25, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET

Guest Host: APA Sustainable Communities Division

Sustainability at the urban design scale has garnered increasing interest over the past few decades but remains a complicated area of work and a largely fragmented field without a unified approach. The wide range of scales, disciplines, and areas of expertise involved in sustainable urban design has made it difficult to understand and to apply in real-world projects.​

Nico Larco, Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Oregon, will present the Sustainable Urban Design Framework, a new, comprehensive approach to sustainable urban design built from current research and best practices from across the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, planning, development, ecology, and environmental engineering. The framework organizes over 50 specific urban design elements in relation to five sustainability-focused outcomes and four scales of intervention.​

The Sustainable Urban Design Framework is the focus of the recently published Sustainable Urban Design Handbook, a graphically rich and easy to use resource for designers, planners, developers, elected officials, and community stakeholders.

CM 1.5
SR 1.0
View Recording

Maintaining Public Green Stormwater Infrastructure: Municipal Case Studies

November 15, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET

Guest Host: APA ENRE Division + APA Water and Planning Network

The importance and willingness of municipalities to implement green infrastructure is increasing significantly as climate change brings new stormwater management challenges and urban flooding. This is good news for a proven infrastructure than can bring multiple benefits - including climate resiliency - to communities. However, long-term maintenance of this engineered infrastructure through dedicated funding and robust asset management programs continues to be a struggle in many municipalities.

This webinar will explore case studies of municipalities large and small from around the U.S. that are moving forward with programs to address long-term maintenance of green infrastructure on public property. Successes and lessons learned will be shared. Please join us for this robust discussion on a timely and important issue facing municipal planners and water managers today!

CM 1.5
SR 1.0
View Recording

2024 Ethics Roundup

December 6, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET

Guest Host: APA Ethics Committee

Learn about current topics in planning ethics from the Chair of the AICP Ethics Committee. Understand current planning ethics topics, including how the AICP Code of Ethics applies to real-life challenging issues facing professionals today. Learn, firsthand, how the new Code of Ethics was applied in its first year. The updated Code of Ethics reemphasizes the commitment to equity and inclusion, to opposing harassment, and to preventing the misuse of the AICP credential. ​Following a short introduction on the AICP Code of Ethics – including data on current topics – ​s​peakers will present several ethics scenarios based on real-life cases brought before the Ethics Officer and the Ethics Committee in 2023. Topics will include sexual harassment, conflict of interest, and political issues. The session will include an interactive discussion segment during each of the cases and a general question and answer session at the end, as time allows.​ This is an interactive session designed to meet the 1 CM Ethics requirement.

CM 1.5
E 1.0

View Recording