APA Diversity Resources

APA offers a variety of resources related to its diversity initiative. Those resources, which include books, reports, presentations, and conference proceedings, are now permanently housed here. Be sure to visit this page regularly as new resources will be added as they become available.

Books

The selected titles are available through APA's PlanningBooks.com.

Overlooked America

Comeback Cities

Developing Infill Housing in Inner-City Neighborhoods

Guide to Careers in Community Development

Leading By Stepping Back

Planning and Community Equity

Restoring America's Neighborhoods

Why Not in My Backyard?

Learn more and purchase these titles

Planning Advisory Service Reports

Published eight times a year, PAS Reports provide a thorough yet succinct knowledgebase for planning professionals. PAS Reports analyze current practice, offer practical advice, and include real-world examples you can adapt for use in your community.

• Equal Opportunity: Selected Statements from Planning Publications (No. 224)
• Migratory Labor Camps in the Community (No. 93)
• Modernizing State Planning Statutes: The Growing Smart Working Papers, Vol. 2 (No. 480/481)
• Planning, Women, and Change (No. 301)
• Programs for Inner-City Communities: An Annotated Bibliography (No. 249)
• Social Planning and City Planning (No. 261)
• The Planning Agency and the Black Community: A Workshop Report (No. 274)
• Urban Indicators: Their Role in Planning (No. 281)
• Youth Participation in Community Planning (No. 486)
• Women in Planning: A Report on Their Status in Public Planning Agencies (No. 273)

Learn more and purchase PAS Reports

Planning magazine Features

For APA members and Planning magazine subscribers

A Bumpy Road
January 2008
The challenges of naming streets for Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Right to Transportation
January 2008 An excerpt from a new Planners Press book addresses the equity question.

La Vida Local
March 2008
Fed up with federal inaction, America's small towns and large cities are finding ways to deal with a flood of immigrants — including many who are undocumented.

Good Fences
May 2008
Communities along the U.S.–Mexico border are struggling with the new realities of homeland security.

Return to Trinidad
July 2008
A planner's first-person narrative.

News and Departments

Growing Smarter: Achieving Livable Communities, Environmental Justice, and Regional Equity (November 2007)

Housing and Economic Development in Indian Country: Challenge and Opportunity (Library, February 2008)

Immigrants in America (Library, June 2008)

Court Upholds State Immigration Laws (News, April 2008)

Diversity Summit Materials

A variety of materials used for the Minority Planning Summit (2004) and Diversity Summit II (2005) are posted here.

Minority Planning Summit

Summit Presentation (ppt) (61KB)

Lagging Behind: Ethnic Diversity in the Planning Profession in the APA New York Metro Chapter Area — Findings and Recommendations(pdf)

2004 Minority Planning Summit Topic Summaries (pdf)

Diversity Summit II

Summit Presentation (ppt) (6.68MB)

APA Diversity Accomplishments (ppt) (355KB)

APA Diversity Task Force report and recommendations (pdf)

National Planning Conference

The annual National Planning Conference offers a host of sessions and workshops focused on issues of diversity.

APA Chapters and Diversity

Chapters get you involved in APA close to home. They're your local source for networking and professional development. You'll share experiences with colleagues and broaden your perspective beyond your commission or office. When you join APA, you automatically become a member of your local chapter.

Most chapters offer an annual conference, educational workshops, AICP exam preparation courses, and a newsletter. Many chapters also conduct legislative programs, sponsor planning commissioner training workshops, and conduct public information campaigns.

A number of chapters are engaged in addressing diversity and social equity. Chapters are hosting their own diversity summits, offering mentoring programs, and cultivating diverse chapter leaders.

At the 2006 APA National Planning Conference, representatives from several chapters shared their accomplishments. Learn more by downloading the presentations from the Encouraging Diversity at the Chapter Level session:

California Chapter (ppt)

National Capital Area Chapter (ppt)

Virginia Chapter (ppt)

In the coming months APA will begin posting profiles of these chapter activities. The purpose of these profiles will be to highlight the good work already underway as well as to inspire other creative approaches.

Visit your local chapter's website to learn more about its diversity efforts and to catch up on the latest planning information in your region.

APA Divisions and Diversity

APA Divisions connect you with other planning professionals who share your passions, your challenges, and your experiences. They provide opportunities to strengthen your career and advance your vision for the profession. Although all APA divisions are committed to promoting diversity and equity within local communities as well as the field, five APA divisions specifically focus on planning issues that concern special populations.

Learn more about APA Divisions

The Gays and Lesbians in Planning

The Gays and Lesbians in Planning (GALIP) Division addresses planning topics and issues that relate to the gay and lesbian community by providing a forum for exchanging ideas and information.

Indigenous Planning

The Indigenous Planning Division advocates community development based on land-tenure principles and informed by the distinctive worldviews of indigenous peoples. Members are committed to social, economic, and political change and welcome all those interested in sustaining traditional indigenous approaches to planning.

Latinos and Planning

The Latinos and Planning Divisions will work collaboratively with other professionals and organizations to identify and develop strategies to address planning issues facing Latino communities and career challenges of Latino planners.

Planning and the Black Community

The Planning and the Black Community Division provides a forum for planners, administrators, public officials, students, and other interested individuals to address issues of significance to the black community.

Planning and Women Division

The Planning and Women Division cuts across subject boundaries, giving the division a unique strength and position within the national organization. A primary focus of the division is whether women through their various roles change the paradigm of planning, as recently published research and case studies indicate.