Equity in Regional Planning

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• How four agencies established frameworks for equity and inclusion in regional planning
• How to examine your own, or your organization’s, approach to equity and inclusion and apply lessons learned from others
• How to assess different planning, engagement, policy, and program options as you organize your own approach to planning for equity and inclusion

MORE SESSION DETAILS

Planners have long struggled with questions around how to cultivate places where all people can grow and thrive. Recent federal initiatives have encouraged regional planning agencies to evolve their thinking just as new voices are challenging outdated paradigms of outreach. As a result, regional planners are developing frameworks that emphasize the broad economic benefits of equity and inclusion. Regional planning agencies and regional plans are approaching equity — particularly across races, ethnicities, incomes, and abilities — in different ways shaped in part by each agency’s unique enabling authority and context. Each agency has been moving along a continuum from analyzing the issues to engaging with residents to developing policy frameworks, programs, and targeted investments and finally to measuring performance, with some healthy disruption scattered throughout. This session will provide a frank and enlightening glimpse into the journeys of four regional planning agencies committed to making planning for equity and inclusion a central part of their work. Speakers will describe their agencies’ approach to equity and frame that approach within a regional context. By sharing lessons learned, the session will help attendees overcome lingering fears that prevent organizations from approaching these issues.