2010 National Planning Conference

Conference Tracks

Saturday, April 10 – Tuesday, April 13, 2010 • New Orleans

Suburban Design & Retrofitting Track

Suburban redevelopment is becoming and increasingly important planning paradigm. This track will explore many of the urban design challenges and opportunities that suburbs have in a new era of planning and development. Topics include visioning, implementation, transportation, infrastructure, preservation, and urban form. Case studies and best practices will illustrate models of successful suburban design solutions, with emphasis on urban design principles and the planning process.

Rules that Shape Urban Form

What regulations, templates, guidelines, and codes having planners used to shape urban form? This track looks at zoning and all other types of regulation that have been applied to communities large and small to direct growth and reshape cities. How well have they worked? What rules hold promise for meeting planning’s objectives for the 21st city and community?

Transportation and Density

If planning is serious about addressing climate change then transportation and density go the top of the list of policy priorities. But how can America redirect its resources and encourage the private market to consider the importance of this connection. This track will explore where transportation and density are working well, where new efforts are being made, and how new policies hold promise.

Planning Management and Leadership

This track looks at the management of the contemporary planning agency or firm. Sessions are welcome on all aspects of management from reshaping offices to organizing technology. Private sector planners are encouraged to share insights on managing the firm. One segment of the track will focus on leadership — in the profession and in the community.

The Future of Small Towns and Rural Areas

Where are small town and rural areas headed? How has the recession affected them and how is planning responding? This track will cover the current state of planning.

Recovery

How are communities dealing with foreclosures, job loss, and declines in services? How do communities recover from environmental disasters? This track will look at strategies for addressing the impacts of the recession and how various stimulus programs are affecting communities and their planning. Some sessions may focus on how communities rebuild their economies, social fabric, and neighborhoods after disasters. Particular emphasis is placed on neighborhoods and housing issues. This is a period when planning agencies can access their roles and functions and prepare for the recovery — explore how this is being done.

Energy Planning

As America explores new and greener sources of energy, what has been the impact on communities? This track explores the relationship between energy development and planning from permitting to coordination with utilities to new opportunities. Energy development is creating entirely new horizons, see how planning is becoming integral to this movement.

Economic Development and Redevelopment Financing

Are there new opportunities emerging for economic development, despite the recession? This track examines how communities are responding to the economic situation and developing strategies for stabilizing and rebuilding. Attention is given to the use and availability of federal funding. One thread within this track will focus on redevelopment financing such as TIF, special district financing, and joint development financing.

Climate Change, Sustainability, and Green Community

New federal programs and legislation are beginning to have an impact. Many states have taken the lead in getting efforts underway. Mayors across the country remain committed to green community. In this track, planners discuss how planning is producing greener communities and how they collaborate with other programs and initiatives to further sound planning for climate change.

Delta Urbanism Symposium

The American Planning Association is convening an international symposium to address the issues facing urban areas located in deltas across the world. Taking place within the National Planning Conference, the symposium invites presentations on the growth, development, and management of cities in river deltas, with a spotlight on solutions for balancing various (and often competing) goals: urbanization, port development, industrial development, flood defense, public safety, ecological balance of the estuaries, tourism, and recreation.  Although the focus is on delta urbanism, the content will be applicable to all cities facing the issues of water management and the rapid environmental changes brought about by climate change. 

The symposium focuses on the policies, tools, technology, coordinated planning, public outreach, and international cooperation — both current and emerging — to manage the future of delta cities, and aims to be the premier event regarding delta urbanism, water management, and sea-level rise issues in 2010.

Partners in this project include the Dutch Embassy and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Other partners are being sought. 

Rationale and Background

Climate change is affecting coastal areas around the world and no more dramatically than in delta regions.  That many of the largest cities in the world are located in deltas comes as no surprise; people are drawn to delta for economic reasons, transportation opportunities, and the amenity of water. The very attraction of the deltas to large populations makes their residents vulnerable to natural disasters whose magnitude appears to increase with climate change. The 2008 Nargis Typhoon in the Irrawaddy Delta of Myanmar is only one recent example which reveals that massive engineering and humanitarian aid are not enough. Planning to reduce the impact of disasters and to build resilient and environmentally smart cities is crucial.

Call for Presentations

Planners from the United States and other countries are invited to propose sessions and presentations for the symposium. Allied professions are also welcome to propose and to attend the symposium.

Proposals should address the growth, development, and management of cities in river deltas, with a spotlight on solutions for balancing various (and often competing) goals: urbanization, port development, industrial development, flood defense, public safety, ecological balance of the estuaries, tourism, and recreation. Presentations are also welcome on the science of climate change and its impact on coastal urban areas. Although the focus is on delta urbanism, the content will be applicable to all cities facing the issues of water management and the rapid environmental changes brought about by climate change.

The symposium focuses on the policies, tools, technology, coordinated planning, public outreach, and international cooperation — both current and emerging — to manage the future of delta cities.

About APA and Its Work in This Area

APA builds upon its extensive experience and contacts to develop this symposium. Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, APA worked at many levels in the affected states, with focused efforts to build planning capacity in the city of New Orleans. In this work, APA partnered with the Government of the Netherlands to study and create strategic recommendations on living with and planning for water. The on-the-ground teams developed recommendations for bringing 21st century technology, thinking, and techniques to bear on the problems facing New Orleans.

Internationally, APA has worked in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Nicaragua after two major hurricanes to develop and deliver training on environmentally sound site planning.

In addition, APA’s Hazards Planning Research Center staff conducted training and consultation in Taiwan and New Zealand and served on an interdisciplinary team following the 2005 tsunami in Sri Lanka. In partnership with FEMA, APA published the widely used PAS Report Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction and conducts training through the United States. The Center is currently under contract with FEMA to develop a best practices manual on integrating hazard mitigation into all stages of local urban planning.

Adaptation and mitigation of sea level rise, particularly in urbanized delta areas, is a topic that urban planners will grapple with for many decades.  The rapid environmental changes occurring across the world make this an urgent subject and a historic gathering.  By convening a diverse group knowledge experts and stakeholders, APA hopes to be the catalyst for stronger, safer, economically vibrant, and environmentally sensitive delta cities.

Audiences

The American Planning Association invites planners, hazard mitigation professionals, emergency management professionals, researchers, scientists, engineers, policy makers, journalists, public health officials, and the business community to this international symposium.

The symposium will provide opportunities to informal exchange, for touring the city of New Orleans and the delta areas. Both experienced and new professionals will gain from this event.

Outcomes

Planning is underway to create publications around this symposium. Other methods of disseminating the results of the symposium are being explored.

Registration

All attendees and speakers will register as part of the National Planning Conference and the conference will be open for their participation.