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APA Research and DiversityAPA Research has a long-standing commitment to researching social and economic equity issues, best practices, and tools. The department is comprised of a 14-member team engaged in a program of applied research that results in practical information about best practices in urban and regional planning in the U.S. Our principal audiences include community and regional planners, planning consultants, citizen planning officials, and professionals in allied fields. About one-third of APA's research budget involves research sponsored by government agencies, research institutes, NGOs, and foundations. In addition to a number of Planning Advisory Service Reports on related issues dating back to 1960s, APA Research also has a history of equity-related sponsored projects: Creating Community-Based Brownfields Redevelopment Strategies In Fall 2005, APA received a Brownfields Training, Research and Technical Assistance Grant from the U.S Environmental Protection Agency. This project will create a training program for community development corporations and similar groups with the goal of empowering residents to understand and effectively participate in brownfields redevelopment initiatives. APA is working in close collaboration with Bethel New Life, Inc., a Chicago-based CDC with extensive experience in brownfields redevelopment issues.
In 2004, APA Research was selected from among 20 competing research organizations to conduct a synthesis study on the status of tribal transportation programs in the U.S. The project, being conducted over a 15-month period, for the Transportation Research Board's National Cooperative Highway Research Program seeks information from tribes that are currently undertaking transportation planning, project development, construction, safety, transit, and maintenance. Information will include current staffing for tribal governments and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the amount and source of funding for transportation programming activities.
With support from the Fannie Mae Foundation, APA conducted a series of six Housing Choice scoping sessions designed to get in tune with real world affordable housing problems and opportunities throughout the country. The sessions took place during Fall 2004 in conjunction with APA chapter conferences. The sessions focused on current innovative practice, marking a departure from the standard descriptions of, and approaches to, the problem in the 1970s and 80s. The half-day sessions brought together six to 12 participants for a facilitated discussion focused on two principal questions: (1) What is the unique nature of the affordable housing challenge in the region and what makes it different from other regions of the country?; and (2) What tools are available, or should be available, in the region that hold out the most promise for helping to meet the housing challenge?
This project was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in order to encourage the profession of planning to think critically about the ways in which families' and children's lives might be improved. The Casey Foundation has a special interest in the most needy residents of our communities. APA focused its project on neighborhoods and the means by which collaborative planning can improve the overall health of neighborhoods. The traditional practice of planning, in which a municipal planning department plans for the physical future of the entire jurisdiction from city hall, often fails to provide effective planning for the full range of community components that affect families and children at the neighborhood level. In addition, as a result of this project, APA intends to open discussion with its potential collaborators and within the field of city and regional planning.
In fall 1998, many communities in Central America and the Caribbean were severely damaged by Hurricanes Mitch and Georges. As part of the long-term rebuilding effort underway in the region, APA's research department was contracted by U.S. HUD's Office of International Affairs to develop and deliver a training course on the fundamentals of site planning. Nine workshops were conducted in Spanish during fall 2001 in Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic, the countries hit the hardest by the storms. A training workbook and trainers' guide, university course, and a multimedia teaching product were also produced. APA teamed with Spanish-speaking individuals, institutions, and firms both here in the U.S. and in the region to help carry out many aspects of the work.
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