Blogs

December 13, 2024

Iowa City Creates Path to Homeownership

Equity in Practice: Iowa City, Iowa, uses vacant or underused properties to create a path to homeownership and neighborhood revitalization for residents in the South District.

October 29, 2024

Revitalizing a Stressed Neighborhood

Equity in Practice: Lewiston, Maine, is leveraging its Choice Neighborhood grant to improve existing and provide additional housing in the historic Tree Streets neighborhood, creating new opportunities for residents.

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October 24, 2024

How Nonprofits Are Shaping Community Organizing

Uncovering JAPA: Explore how subcontracting community organizing to nonprofits can enhance resident participation but risks perpetuating power inequities without addressing systemic racial and class-based disparities.

September 25, 2024

Advancing Equity Through Solar Energy in Tribal Communities

Equity in Practice: Federal solar grants help power Tribal homes and create new job opportunities.

September 20, 2024

Mapping Indigenous Food Infrastructure

Uncovering JAPA: Learn how an indigenous-led photovoice food systems approach reveals vital cultural and ecological assets, advocating for more equitable and resilient food systems.

August 8, 2024

Predicting Grocery Access After a Hurricane

Uncovering JAPA: As disaster storms increase, discover how they significantly impact food access for vulnerable communities.

Albuquerque's Community Planning Areas Aim to Enhance All Neighborhoods (blog featured image)

July 12, 2024

Albuquerque's Community Planning Areas (CPAs) Aim to Enhance All Neighborhoods

Equity in Practice: Albuquerque uses Community Plan Area assessments to "check-in" on community needs to create comprehensive city-wide policies.

June 24, 2024

Mapping LGBTQ Sites of Historical Importance in Central Indiana

Equity in Practice: Indianapolis is working to include LGBTQ+ sites of historical significance into its broader preservation and educational frameworks.

May 28, 2024

Asian Night Markets Spotlight Heritage and Culture

Night markets provide an opportunity to bolster local economies and a way to celebrate Asian heritage.

May 10, 2024

Empowering the Next Generation of Planners

Equity In Practice: In Boston, a collaborative effort is empowering diverse youth to pursue careers in urban planning and create positive community impact.

May 1, 2024

Key Findings From the 2023 APA Member Equity Survey

Overview of key findings from APA's 2023 member equity survey.

February 15, 2024

Long Beach’s Approach to Youth Advocacy in Planning

Uncovering JAPA: Long Beach invests in Youth, establishing a Global Model with the Office of Youth Development.

January 19, 2024

60 Years of Racial Equity in Urban Planning

Uncovering JAPA: Insightful analysis about racial equity planning to inform planning practitioners' efforts to advance racial and social justice.

January 17, 2024

Reconnecting a City to its Cherokee Culture Through Planning

How an architecture firm connected with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to craft a downtown master plan in Cherokee, North Carolina.

January 10, 2024

Creating Vibrant, Safe Streets

Equity in Practice: The City of Minneapolis elevated native culture and rebuilt trust by partnering with the Little Earth Residents Association and the Native Youth Arts Collective to improve the safety of 18th Avenue South.

December 21, 2023

Prioritizing Environmental Justice in Comprehensive Planning

Uncovering JAPA: California plans are analyzed for environmental justice (EJ) incorporation, revealing advancements in BIPOC communities while underscoring the absence of an explicit racial focus.

December 14, 2023

Restorative Pathways: Navigating Healing and Justice in Communities Affected by Spatial Trauma

Uncovering JAPA: Addressing spatial trauma in Black and brown communities, urging today's planners to embrace equitable spatial development through healing approaches.

December 8, 2023

The Continuing Evolution of Complete Streets

December 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the first official use of the term "Complete Streets," learn about key trends and influencing factors that will continue to shape the Complete Streets of the future.

November 30, 2023

The Lasting Legacy of Harmful Land-Use Regulations

Uncovering JAPA: Early land-use regulations shaped the concepts of race, which challenge today's planners to create equitable spaces.

November 17, 2023

Improving Inclusivity of Urban Governance

Uncovering JAPA: Nurturing the culture of a governing body can make it more inclusive for everyone.

November 15, 2023

Student-Led University Course Challenges Conventional Planning Processes

Equity in Practice: Learn how students created a new course at the University of Michigan to DO WHAT.

November 9, 2023

The Impact of Prejudice Data on Advancing Equitable Planning Practices

Uncovering JAPA: Understanding the impact of the Mapping Prejudice project on advancing more equitable planning policies and practices.

November 2, 2023

Impact of Low-Cost Housing Interventions

Uncovering JAPA: The positive impact of low-cost housing remediations led to reduced blight and crime in Philadelphia.

October 27, 2023

Strategies for Creating More Just and Equitable Societies

Uncovering JAPA: This viewpoint explores three aforementioned strategies that can be used to start dismantling the existing system in favor of a more just system that that works for everyone.

October 23, 2023

Investing and Rejuvenating Historic All-Black Towns

Equity in Practice: Weekend festival focuses on helping historical all-Black towns survive and thrive.

October 20, 2023

Dissecting 30 Years of Black Urbanist Thought in Urban Planning

Uncovering JAPA: Analysis confirms planning journals and practitioners have not focused on Black voices and Black urbanism for nearly three decades.

October 12, 2023

A New Tool for Assessing Equity in Health Impact Assessments

Uncovering JAPA: A new approach to ensuring racial and ethnic equity are advanced in health impact assessments (HIAs).

October 6, 2023

Mural Festival Advances Creative Placemaking

Uncovering JAPA: Explore a successful model of creative placemaking using murals to engage the community from Springfield, Massachusetts.

September 28, 2023

Planning for Care - A Necessary Element of Equitable, Livable and Healthy Communities

Uncovering JAPA: Explore how care work depends on the urban environment and how planning can enhance the social and material conditions for caregiving in cities.

September 26, 2023

Renaming Streets to Promote Reconciliation

Equity in Practice: Learn how Charlotte, North Carolina, approached and ultimately renamed streets that had honored Confederate and white supremist leaders.

August 31, 2023

Addressing Racial Harms Through Reparative Planning

Uncovering JAPA: A framework that provides theory and practice for planners working toward urban justice.

August 28, 2023

Using Public Space to Expand Storytelling on the National Mall

A new temporary exhibit on the National Mall aims to balance protecting historic spaces while increasing opportunities for more stories to be shared.

August 14, 2023

Whose Status Quo Should Zoning Protect?

Spotlight on Zoning Practice: How can zoning protect historically disadvantaged and vulnerable neighborhoods and business districts?

August 10, 2023

Using Reparative Planning to Address Infrastructural Systems

Uncovering JAPA: ACT-LA aims to apply a divest-invest approach to stopping systems and practices that have caused harm.

August 3, 2023

Black Counternarratives in Planning History

Uncovering JAPA: Understanding planning history from the perspective of those oppressed by traditional planning ensures the oppressed are no longer dismissed as passive victims but active players in their lives and communities.

July 20, 2023

Eliminating Food Insecurity With Aquaponics

Equity in Practice: East Oakland partners to address food insecurity.

June 21, 2023

Three Chicago Housing Developments Meeting Community Needs

Members of the Housing Supply Accelerator Steering Committee tour three housing developments on Chicago's south and west sides to see innovation at work.

June 13, 2023

Six LGBTQ+ Walking Tours

This June, learn about LGBTQ history while on your feet at one of these six historical walking tours.

June 7, 2023

The Importance of Intergenerational Communities

Multigenerational and age-friendly communities create a vehicle to bring generations together; reduce age segregation and ageism; decrease social isolation, depression, and loneliness; and improve community infrastructure and facilities.

June 6, 2023

New Habitat Restoration Tool Helps to Prioritize Equity

Equity in Practice: Fort Collins created a habitat equity tool that focuses not just on nature but people.

June 1, 2023

Designing Age-Friendly Connectivity in Melbourne, Australia

Uncovering JAPA: Study finds it necessary for planners to take action to ensure the built environment becomes more age-friendly.

May 31, 2023

An Activist Walking Guide to Philadelphia's Chinatown

A walking tour during NPC23 illustrates the opportunities and challenges facing Philadelphia's Chinatown.

May 26, 2023

Building Business Resilience for Minority-Owned Businesses

Uncovering JAPA: Three critical aspects for understanding business resilience in underserved communities.

May 15, 2023

Practical Tips to Foster Diversity and Inclusion in Your Workplace

Understanding the barriers to diverse planners' recruitment, retention, promotion, and leadership. How employers can promote a welcoming environment and encourage access to opportunities for career growth.

May 5, 2023

Take 5: Celebrating Five Locations Honoring AAPI Heritage

Take 5: Travel the U.S. and learn about five places of significance that honor the heritage of Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

April 27, 2023

Centering Equity in Planning and Public Health Collaborations

Uncovering JAPA: Without an equity focus, planning and public health collaborations can harm vulnerable communities or lead to ineffective policies.

April 13, 2023

Understanding and Protecting the Benefits of Immigrant Food Businesses

Uncovering JAPA: Smaller-scale ethnic food businesses contribute to community health and well-being but also boost the local economy.

March 30, 2023

Enforcing Asian Exclusion Through Design and Planning Regulations

Uncovering JAPA: Three cities in Los Angeles County developed stringent development controls to encourage Anglo or Spanish heritage in response to Asian newcomers.