WELCOME!
Earn over 50 AICP CM credits each year online - at no cost to members of participating organizations that support the Planning Webcast Series. Check back often as we frequently add additional offerings.
- Webcasts take place live on Fridays from 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET and are worth 1.5 AICP CM credits (for live viewing only) unless otherwise noted
- On-demand webcasts are available for your convenience in the 'On-Demand Webcasts' tab above
- Webcast recordings and slide decks are available in the 'Past Webcasts' tab below
- Please contact us for transcription assistance.
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Upcoming Webcasts
Cash for Grass: Nevada’s Plan for a Sustainable Future
November 8, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
Guest Host: APA Nevada
~ Canceled by guest host ~Maintaining Public Green Stormwater Infrastructure: Municipal Case Studies
November 15, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9298155Guest 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!
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Accessory Dwelling Units & Equitable Land Use Policies
November 18, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9300566Guest 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.
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2024 Ethics Roundup
December 6, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #TBDGuest 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 – speakers 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.
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New Developments in Planning Case Law
December 20, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9300339Guest Host: APA Illinois
From due process to the First Amendment, planning and land use cases present interesting issues for lawyers and planners alike. Join attorneys from Ancel Glink, P.C. in Chicago for a discussion of the most recent and interesting updates in planning law.
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New Year, New You, New Staff Report
December 27, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9300564Guest 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).
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2024 Webcast Archive
Planning and Zoning for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)
January 19, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM # 9283422Guest Host: APA Sustainable Communities Division
The electric energy system in our country is in the midst of dramatic changes, with new technologies deployed and infrastructural investment occurring at a speed and scale unprecedented in our nation’s history. One example is the rapid increase in use of battery energy storage systems (BESS). Batteries are increasingly part of consumer devices and vehicles, but also as part of “behind-the-meter” electric systems in homes and businesses, as part of utility substations and transmission systems, and incorpo-rated into solar and wind electric generation projects. What do planners need to know about BESS when evaluating risks and nuisances? Where might BESS be located in the community?
Large-scale energy storage in liquid, gas, and solid fuels is quite common in our communities. But electric energy storage in batteries is a different thing. Or is it? Communities will need to consider how stationary battery storage – BESS – fits into land use plans and zoning regulations. This webinar will describe the local benefits and risks that different battery land uses bring to the community; what communities should expect of battery developers, owners, and managers; and how planners can begin to put this new energy technology in the context of local land use decisions.
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Planning for Wildfire
February 2, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM # TBDGuest Host: APA City Planning and Management Division
The Home Ignition Zone (HIZ) model has been promoted internally, but professionals in planning, construction, and development are still unaware of their roles in creating fire resistant structures and communities. In this webinar you'll be introduced to the Home Ignition Zone as well as the Community Ignition Zone and what roles you can play in creating wildfire ready communities.
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Adapting to Climate: Urban Landscape Transformation in the 21st Century
February 16, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM # 9283424Guest Host: APA ENRE Division + APA Water and Planning Network
There is a tremendous amount of change happening in urban landscapes, especially in the western U.S. Driven by climate change more broadly, and its symptoms of water scarcity, stormwater flooding, and heat, these changes present both challenges and opportunities for planners. The conversion of our cities will not be easy, or quick. To do this right, we must address this as systems-change, with robust attention to both the social and physical details. To address this challenge, the recent Lincoln Institute/Babbitt Center White Paper “ Research-Informed Documents of Practice: Helping Urban Planners and Water Managers Direct the Change Needed for Creating Climate-Adapted Urban Landscapes”, researched 3 different sources of information to gather a snapshot of current activities, stated goals, and future directions to make this transformation happen. This webinar will cover what was learned.
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Designing for Wildfires: Information for Planners
February 23, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM # 9283417Guest Host: APA HMDR Division
Over the past decade, the growth in frequency, scale, and severity of wildfires have highlighted the seriousness of an emerging global problem, particularly in an area known as the wildland-urban interface (WUI). These impacts are expected to worsen with ongoing development in wildfire-prone areas and extreme weather conditions from climate change. FEMA’s Building Science Disaster Support Program recently deployed a team of subject matter experts to Colorado after the devastating Marshall Fire and identified a need for more collaboration between the fields of planning and building science to increase wildfire resilience. This session will inform planners about wildfire mitigation concepts at the parcel, neighborhood and community levels and the interrelationships between these scales. Speakers will draw on lessons learned and best practice examples that emphasize how planning, zoning and building codes as well as long-term maintenance programs can be effective tools in reducing community wildfire risk and advancing inclusive and equitable community planning for wildfire.
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Emerging Practices for Local Approval of EV Charging Stations
March 8, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9286206Guest 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.
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Generative AI Strategies
March 15, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM # 9283420Guest Host: APA Technology Division
Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), ranging from large language models to image generation, possesses a wide range of civic applications that can expand the capacity of planners and their organizations. Many local governments are exploring applications of generative AI in governance including applications such as ChatBots, plan evaluation, memo drafting, automation administrative tasks, synthesizing public feedback, and enhancing data analysis methods. These applications create new tools for practitioners to use to improve quality of work and speed of delivery for governments of all shapes and sizes. This session, hosted by the APA's Technology Division and Land of Sky Regional Council's COGWorks Program, focuses on how municipal planning departments can utilize language models and similar technologies to enhance staff capacity. This session will discuss the risks and benefits of this technology, emerging applications, and provide a brief tutorial on how to apply the technology in a planning context. While this technology cannot replace staff members, it is a tool that may enable practitioners, particularly in small rural municipalities, to better serve their communities.
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Trails as Resilient Infrastructure
March 22, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM # 9286208Guest 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.
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Digging Deep into the Data - Analyzing Your Community Using Census Bureau Online Tools
April 5, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9288240Guest Host: APA Northern New England Chapter
The Census Bureau has valuable data that are helpful for community planning, analyzing, reporting, grant-writing, etc. In this Webinar, you will learn about popular Census Bureau surveys and the type of information you can access from them. You will receive a brief tour of the Census Bureau’s website and live demonstrations of popular data retrieval tools to help you find data quickly and build a customized data query. Topics include the various geographical levels of how data can be accessed, where and how to find data regarding your community such as population, demographic makeup, economic, and housing, and the various data view/download options, to include data tables, Excel spreadsheets, and mapping features.
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The Relevancy Guidebook: How We Can Transform the Future of Preservation
May 3, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9289840Guest 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.
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Recording Coming Soon
Planning, Preservation & Change: The Federal Perspective
May 31, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9289841Guest Host: APA Urban Design & Preservation Division
The Honorable Sara Bronin, Chair of the Advisory Council for Historic Preservation, will discuss the Council's recently adopted federal policy statements on Housing and Historic Preservation and Climate Change and Historic Preservation and how they relate to our broader planning issues. Chair Bronin will also discuss her recent report and recommendations to the Council on applying and interpreting federal historic preservation standards.
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Take me out to the Ballgame: Connecting Stadiums to Communities
June 21, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9289843Guest 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.
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Digital Tools for Water and Land Education
June 28, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9290550Guest Host: APA ENRE Division + APA Water and Planning Network
One of the barriers we face today for addressing sustainable water strategies is that we failed to emphasize these issues within our primary, secondary and higher educational programs. We have now reached a point where the actions needed to make our water systems sustainable will deeply involve everyone, not just technical policy experts, and the general public and even our current generation of land and water planners are ill prepared for this challenge. Fortunately, the issues of water sustainability are not just short term but will be generational. We still have time to incorporate these issues into our public and professional educational programs. For the last decade Arizona State University has been developing web-based tools to help educate the next generation of water and land planners and the general public about water sustainability. This webinar will explore three online tools, WaterSim, Arizona Water Chatbot, and Arizona Blueprint. Attendees will have an opportunity to use each of the tools and how they can be used to inform a wide range of audiences on these issues.
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GIS Automation for Planners: Model Builder
July 12, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM # 9283419Guest 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.
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From NIMBY to Not Impossible, Maybe, Better Yet
July 19, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9289837Guest Host: APA Kansas Chapter
“Not in My Back Yard” is often rooted in fear of loss of quality of life, property values, environmental degradation, health effects, or distrust in technology, government, and management. Other triggers can be ideology or impacts on symbolic places. NIMBY-ism is not simply a U.S. phenomenon, it happens everywhere. Research from around the world reveals useful techniques for anticipating NIMBY arguments, improving systems to avoid triggers, and recognition of the importance of cultures where “we are in this together” versus “everyone for themselves”.
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Innovative Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Resilience
August 2, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9293229Guest 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.
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Preserving East Palatka, Florida: Lessons on Listening and How Planning Can Help Spark Rural Communities
August 8, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9293228Guest Host: APA Florida Chapter
Located on the east side of the St. Johns River in Putnam County, Fla., East Palatka is a rural farming community that has traditionally been home to potato and cabbage farm laborers. The Gullah Geechee established a community here, and their descendants remain to this day. The community originated in the 19th century and is characterized by brick streets, small-frame residential dwellings, historic churches, a mature natural landscape, and agricultural fields. Seeking to preserve its cultural heritage, limit displacement, and spur equitable economic development opportunities for residents, leaders reached out to the APA Florida Community Planning Assistance Team (CPAT) for their expertise in the fields of public policy, planning, historic preservation, and economic development. Along the way, CPAT volunteers used their professional resources to connect the community with the University of Florida to provide further assistance with the implementation of some goals identified by community members. During this webinar, CPAT participants will share their lessons learned, best practices, and the final report action items. This webinar is ideal for planners who work with underserved and rural communities.
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D-PRAT and Serving the Underserved: Lessons on Creative Partnerships
August 23, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9293231Guest 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.
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Building Climate Resilient Communities: Tools and Frameworks for Planners
September 13, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9295706Guest Host: APA Sustainable Communities Division
Join us for a webinar tailored for urban and regional planners focused on enhancing community resilience against climate-related vulnerabilities such as flooding, sea level rise, and extreme heat. This session will cover the latest national, state, and local developments in climate resilience planning, emphasizing data standards, best practices, inclusive stakeholder engagement, collaborative approaches, and prioritizing equity. Attendees will gain valuable insights and practical steps to integrate climate resilience into their planning processes, ensuring their communities are prepared for current and future climate impacts. Attendees will be introduced to frameworks and tools that planners can use and approaches that address community needs. Planners at all levels of experience in this area of practice are welcome.
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Regenerative City Symposium: Innovation Towards Sustainability Success
September 20, 2024 | 12:00 - 1:30 PM ET
CM #9295756This 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.
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Planning Pioneer or Planning Pariah? Rethinking Bartholomew’s Legacy
October 18, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9298152Guest Host: APA Urban Design and Preservation Division + APA National Capital Area Chapter
Named a planning pioneer by the American Planning Association, Harland Bartholomew had a profound impact on professional planning, formalizing the use of zoning and comprehensive plans and influencing transportation and housing practices nationwide. These past planning practices shaped today’s communities and created and sustained racial and economic segregation. This webinar will explore the complicated legacy of Harland Bartholomew nationwide and in three cities: Washington, DC, Louisville, KY, and St. Louis, MO. The panel will also discuss measures to identify and address these legacies in the built environment.
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Sustainable Urban Design: A Comprehensive Approach
October 25, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9298153Guest 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.
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Transforming Zoning: How Technology can elevate Practice, Application & Accessibility
October 29, 2024 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
CM #9298153Guest Host: APA Ohio
Join us for an insightful webinar on Transforming Zoning where we discover how technology can improve decision-making, visualize zoning policies in real-world scenarios, and help planners test and understand policy implications with greater accuracy.
In collaboration with ViewPro, enCodePlus, and ZoneCo, you'll learn how GIS and other advanced tools elevate the field of zoning by enhancing policy application, improving transparency, promoting community engagement and making it more efficient, transparent, and accessible to all stakeholders.
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