Blog
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April 21, 2023
It Takes a Planner: Communicating Your Value to Policymakers
APA is launching “It Takes a Planner”, an effort aimed at building the influence of planners among state and local elected and appointed officials. -
March 6, 2023
Plan Now to Overcome Reflexive Opposition to Large-Scale Solar
Reflexive opposition to large-scale solar projects is on the rise in many parts of the country. Start planning now to avoid the reactive trap. -
Challenging Storytelling and Narratives That Reinforce Inequity
Uncovering JAPA: The risk of reproducing racist assumptions or narratives in planning. -
September 22, 2022
The Benefits of Repeated Participation
Uncovering JAPA: Outcome of attracting the repeated participation of participants across multiple planning engagement processes. -
July 18, 2022
What Comes After Zoning by Zoom?
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Is your community ready for asynchronous public hearings? -
Online Dissent: Fostering a Necessary Component to Planning
Uncovering JAPA: How can planners preserve dissent in online public engagement opportunities? -
December 7, 2021
The Silver Linings of Asset-Based Community Development
Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) is a framework to discover and mobilize assets or resources available in a community and use them to benefit residents. -
Aligning Political Candidates' Social Media Posts and Plan Outcomes
Uncovering JAPA: Connecting what political candidates' social media posts to plan outcomes may help signal what plans will be implemented. -
Climate, Equity, Housing, & Infrastructure at #APAPolicy21
From housing to infrastructure, see what key decision makers and planners talked about during the 2021 APA Policy and Advocacy Conference. -
Language Access: Inclusive Planning in Los Angeles
Los Angeles' City Planning department created Spanish Translation Style Guide, a tool to broaden support for key programs, respond to citizens’ needs, and collect input from diverse LEP voices across the city. -
September 2, 2021
Testing Geodesign for Navajo Community Plans
Uncovering JAPA: See how Geodesign was used in two Navajo community plans to ensure participation without tokenization. -
July 15, 2021
Understanding Responses to COVID-19-Induced Shifts in Cultural Norms
Uncovering JAPA: Cultural biases impact how people will respond differently to government and planning interventions. -
Planners' Activism Spurred Congress to Act for Communities
Despite an unusually contentious and unpredictable two-year session, the 116th Congress acted on several long-time APA legislative priorities. -
Maintaining Advocacy Momentum: Three Steps for Planners
Three ways planners can keep up the advocacy momentum for the remainder of 2020. -
A Guide to Choosing the Best Meeting Venues
Uncovering JAPA: Where should you have your meeting to engage the community? The Venue Creation Tool can help you decide. -
April 14, 2020
Online Alternatives to In-Person Public Meetings in an Emergency
What are the pros and cons of the most popular online meeting software packages for public meetings? -
New Online Public Engagement Resources
APA's CEO announces a timely new KnowledgeBase collection for online public engagement. -
Planning During a Pandemic: 6 Resources for Planners
APA offers resources to help planners adjust to a different way of working, gathering, and communicating during the pandemic. -
February 27, 2020
An Urgency for Insurgency: Lifting Marginalized Voices
Uncovering JAPA: Neighborhood association insurgents successfully challenged planning in one Detroit neighborhood, and planners can support marginalized voices elsewhere. -
December 19, 2019
A Ladder to More Meaningful Community Participation
Uncovering JAPA: Arnstein's Ladder of Citizen Participation can't fix community participation, but it surely provides a space from which to start. -
December 11, 2019
Revisiting Arnstein’s Ladder: Justice as Parity of Participation
Uncovering JAPA: How can planning toward participation have a transformative effect on social equity? -
December 5, 2019
Noncitizens, Nonprofits, and Methods of Engagement
Uncovering JAPA: Three lessons from nonprofits in Los Angeles County can help planners build trust and representation for noncitizens. -
November 21, 2019
Moving Beyond Citizen Control to Co-Production
Uncovering JAPA: Co-production offers what citizen control can’t — systems change — but the public sector still has a great role to play. -
October 31, 2019
Missing Rungs in the Ladder of Citizen Participation
Uncovering JAPA: What happens when public participation is used to finesse existing plans and policies rather than provide opportunities to challenge them? -
October 17, 2019
The View From Arnstein’s Ladder: The Promise of Community Control
Uncovering JAPA: Is community control — a shift of power from the government to the majority of the community — the way to address injustice faced by marginalized members of the community? -
September 26, 2019
Research That Retrieves Lost Memories of Place
Uncovering JAPA: Engaging community members in storytelling can reveal forgotten heritage and draw new maps of the past. -
September 19, 2019
Building That Well-Known Ladder of Citizen Participation
Uncovering JAPA: Sherry Arnstein's influential Ladder of Citizen Participation grew from her frustration with government ideas about power in the 1950s and 1960s. -
September 12, 2019
Who Cares? Reimagining Planning as Caring
Uncovering JAPA: How can planners acknowledge and make use of all of their emotions in a productive way when engaging with the public? -
Planners as Partners in Building Healthy Communities
Uncovering JAPA: What does it look like for planners to not simply involve communities but ensure they have agency and can lead? -
Federal Surface Transportation Debate Shifts Into High Gear
The nation's current surface transportation law is set to expire on September 30, 2020. Learn where work on the bill stands now, the legislative process ahead, and how planners can influence the outcome. -
Planners, Here Are Your Keys to Successfully Facilitating Meetings
Meeting facilitation is a vital skill for planners' career success, but it takes a lot of practice to learn the key techniques. -
"If I'd Heard From Just One Constituent..."
The constituent voice is critical for elected officials as they make decisions. Take a peek at how planners elevated their voices at the state level as 2019 legislative sessions wrap up. -
Washington Talks Infrastructure: Will This Time Be Different?
APA Policy Director Jason Jordan reviews the current state of legislative debates on infrastructure in Washington and explores the ways in which APA and its planning advocates are influencing policy ideas in the making. -
Street Air on Earth Day
Members of the Street Air Project have studied the air pollution problem in Bay View, California, with the goal of quantifying the issues and seeking scientific and planning-related solutions. -
APA’s Impact on the 115th Congress
A look back at the ways that APA advocacy made a difference in the 115th Congress. -
Planners Call on Congress: "Fund Community Programs"
At Planners' Day on Capitol Hill 2017, planning advocates urged their representatives to support programs that benefit communities. -
Marketing: Networking and Storytelling for Planners
This NPC17 session provided a thorough review of the role of marketing in the private sector, and highlighted key considerations from the public sector. -
3 Short Steps to Great Public Speaking
Presenting information to groups of people is a fundamental part of being a planner. APA member Michael Blue, FAICP, gives his tips for giving a successful presentation. -
Women in Planning: Tips for Successful Civic Engagement
In the third of a four-part series, APA's Women and Planning division talked with Jennifer Evans-Cowley, PhD, AICP, about her experience as a planner and the value of making community members a part of the planning process. -
Celebrating Planning Month Hawaiian Style
In Hawaii, planners, landscape architects, and other design professionals recently joined forces to discuss the importance of interdisciplinary coordination in comprehensive planning. -
Boston Mayor Uses Books to Bolster Community Planning
Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh released a suggested reading list focused on urbanism in order to engage locals in the citywide planning process. -
Active Design Needs Active Communities, Part II: Pierce County
Two exemplary Plan4Health projects in California and Washington have found the key to building healthy communities: civic engagement. -
Keeping a Bike Plan in High Gear: Montgomery County's Public Engagement Plan
David Anspacher, lead planner for Montgomery County Planning Department's Bicycle Master Plan, explains how the department executed its long-term master plan. -
Public Engagement: The Key to Building Inclusive Communities
Jessica Garrow, AICP, community development director for the City of Aspen, got to where she is today through hard work and perseverance. She recounts her planning journey and the lessons she's learned along the way. -
Think Outside the Public Meeting
The time has never been better for planners to move towards a more creative, inclusive, and enjoyable public outreach approach beyond the public meeting. -
The Iowa Caucus: An Opportunity for Planners
Throughout the Iowa caucus season, planners have the ability to advocate for issues important to their profession. -
Election Year Advocacy? YES, You Can!
Eelection years hold some unique opportunities to advance a pro-planning agenda. Even if you aren’t endorsing candidates, elections open up your advocacy options.
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