Who We Are Urban Design and Preservation Division
If you embrace the past and future of our built environment, we invite you to join the American Planning Association Urban Design and Preservation Division.
We are a nationwide community of urban design and historic preservation emerging professionals and experienced practitioners in the public, non-profit, educational, and private sectors. Our Division promotes the importance of design excellence, an equitable public realm, and stewardship of our historic places throughout the planning profession and beyond.
Planning, Preservation, and Change Preservation Month Webinars
May is National Preservation Month! Join us for two webinars as we kick off the APA Historic and Cultural Resources Policy Update.
On May 3, join Landmarks Illinois President and CEO Bonnie McDonald as she discusses the preservation field's current challenges based on her interviews with preservation professionals and advocates for the Relevancy Guidebook: How We Can Transform the Future of Preservation.
On May 31, Sara Bronin, Chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, will present Planning, Preservation, & Change: The Federal Perspective. She'll cover the ACHP's new federal preservation policy statements on Housing and Climate Change, as well as the Chair's recommendations to the ACHP on applying and implementing federal historic preservation standards.
Register today!
2024 Student Planning & Design Competition
Now in its seventh year, the competition invites multidisciplinary teams of students pursuing graduate degrees in planning, public policy, urban design, architecture, and real estate development to participate. The 2024 Student Planning and Design Competition Project Site Location is The New Nicollet Redevelopment in Minneapolis, MN.
The APA Urban Design and Preservation Division, Student Representative Council, and Divisions Council proudly sponsor this annual competition. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology team placed first, followed by the University of Minnesota and the University of Illinois-Chicago. Congratulations to the finalists, and a big thank you to our jury and organizing committee. We’ll see you at NPC25 in Denver.
APA Historic and Cultural Resources Policy Update
The APA Urban Design and Preservation Division (UDPD) and Legislative Policy Committee (LPC) are exploring preservation planning policy updates to more effectively advocate for federal and state action as planners deal with the intersection of planning, preservation, and change in our built environment.
Our approach to updating APA's policies and positions will consider historic and cultural resources through the lenses of housing production and affordability, zoning and regulatory reform, climate change and the environment, hazard mitigation, economic and community development, and equity. We invite you to join us!
Division Student Scholars
We welcome our new Division Scholars! Jamie Zerillo of the University of Florida is our Division's Historic Preservation Scholar. Andrea Cruz Mejía of the University of Texas-Austin was selected as our Design-Preservation Rapid Assistance Team (D-PRAT) Scholar! Learn more about Andrea and Jamie in this interview. Learn more about Andrea and Jamie in this interview.
D-PRAT: North Miami, FL
Our Division shared the expertise of its Design-Preservation Rapid Assistance Team (D-PRAT) with the City of North Miami on November 13-14. Now in its third year, this pro-bono program supports under-resourced communities and organizations that otherwise would not have access to these services by collaboratively planning for the future, focusing on urban design and/or historic preservation issues. Read the D-PRAT team's findings and recommendations in their presentation to the community and the final report.
Career Paths What is Urban Design?
Interested in a career in urban design? Three experienced urban designers--Jason Beske, Senior Urban Designer at Stantec Urban Places, Jeff Shumaker, former Chief Urban Designer of New York City, and Ifeoma Ebo, Urban Designer/Planning Strategist--offer helpful advice to students and emerging professionals interested in becoming urban designers, and planning practitioners desiring more familiarity with urban design issues. The video was produced by Katelyn Huang, the Division's 2022-23 Scholar.
