Blog
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October 21, 2026
New Haven’s Vision 2034 Builds a More Equitable Future
2026 Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan: Vision 2034 guides New Haven's future through community-driven planning that centers equity, builds resilience, and addresses the needs of historically underserved residents. -
October 21, 2026
Pu'uhonua o Wai'anae: A New Model for Permanent Housing
The 2026 Advancing Diversity and Social Change Award in Honor of Paul Davidoff: The Puʻuhonua o Waiʻanae Farm Village Project transforms a houseless community into a permanent, self-governed village that integrates housing, agriculture, cultural practices, and shared stewardship while preserving community ties and resident leadership. -
October 21, 2026
NYC Urban Forest Plan Maps Greener, More Resilient Future
2026 Resilience & Sustainability Award: New York City's Urban Forest Plan provides a roadmap to reach 30% tree canopy by 2040, treating trees as critical infrastructure to strengthen climate resilience, advance equity, and improve quality of life across the city. -
October 21, 2026
Inside Palm Beach County’s $200 Million Strategy for Affordable Housing
2026 National Planning Excellence Award: The Palm Beach County Housing Bond Loan Program uses a $200 million voter-approved bond to expand affordable and workforce housing, leverage public and private investment, and advance housing solutions through data-driven planning and community priorities. -
October 21, 2026
Expanded Housing and Urban Forest Earn Top Honors in the 2026 National Planning Awards
NEWS RELEASE: APA celebrates the four recipients of the 2026 National Planning Awards, recognizing outstanding planning efforts that strengthen communities, advance innovation and demonstrate the lasting impact of planning. -
October 20, 2026
Planner Profile: Meet Aliyah Riley, AICP
Aliyah Riley, AICP, a planner in Huntsville, Alabama, is a member of the Alabama Chapter of the American Planning Association and the Planning and the Black Community and City Planning and Management divisions. -
October 15, 2026
Where Do Families Go After Displacement?
Uncovering JAPA: Discover how gentrification displaces low-income households and where they move, and what planners can do to expand affordable housing options in destination neighborhoods. -
October 14, 2026
What Can We Do to Minimize the Fallout from Failed Developments?
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: The role of regulatory requirements in ensuring development performance guarantee success. -
October 13, 2026
What Award-Winning JAPA Research Reveals About Affordable Housing and Racial Equity Planning
Award-winning work published in the Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA) in 2026 offer timely, actionable approaches to advancing more equitable communities. -
October 12, 2026
Planners Can Be the DNA in Creating Successful Infrastructure Projects
Planners can lead complex infrastructure projects by combining broad expertise, collaboration and strategic decision-making. -
October 8, 2026
Do Canadian Municipal Climate Action Plans Empower Underserved Communities?
Uncovering JAPA: Discover how Canadian municipal climate action plans are addressing equity — and where they fall short in meaningfully including marginalized communities in climate decision-making. -
October 6, 2026
How a ‘Sweet Plan’ Became the Plan Dulce Podcast
The Plan Dulce podcast started as a way for members of the American Planning Association’s Latinos and Planning Division to connect during the pandemic and has evolved into elevating diverse voices of the planning profession. -
October 5, 2026
Which States Have the Strongest Statutory Frameworks for Hazard Mitigation Planning?
Few states have a statutory framework that would seem to position them well to assume greater responsibility for overseeing hazard mitigation planning. Only eight states have dedicated hazard mitigation or disaster resilience offices. Even fewer states have statutes that promote state, local, and intra-local alignment on hazard mitigation planning. -
October 1, 2026
Uncovering Household Energy Insecurity in Texas
Uncovering JAPA: Discover how energy insecurity affects peri-urban Texas communities and what planners can do to better identify and address gaps in housing, energy access and affordability. -
September 24, 2026
The Power of 'Streateries' in Activating Public Spaces
Uncovering JAPA: Discover how streateries can activate public spaces, encourage social interactions and support urban resilience. -
September 23, 2026
What the ROAD to Housing Means for Tiny Homes
Interest in tiny homes is growing thanks to recent changes to manufactured homes made by the 21st Century Road to Housing law. What do planners need to know moving forward? -
September 21, 2026
What Grief Taught Me About Leadership and Personal Resilience
Personal loss taught a planner how resilience can transform leadership at work and at home. -
September 18, 2026
AI and Community Knowledge Help Planners Better Understand Gentrification
Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and community knowledge can help planners identify new-build gentrification and neighborhood change. -
September 17, 2026
Renewing the Promise of Manufactured Home Parks
Uncovering JAPA: Discover how manufactured home parks can offer a dense, connected, and community-oriented form of affordable housing, and how planners can preserve and improve these often-overlooked neighborhoods. -
September 16, 2026
Planner Profile: Meet Michael Clark, AICP
Michael Clark, AICP, is the community and economic development director in Collierville, Tennessee. Clark is a member of the Tennessee Chapter of the American Planning Association, as well as the APA New Urbanism and Economic Development divisions. -
September 14, 2026
Opening Doors for Microbusinesses
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: How can zoning address common barriers to microbusiness formation and growth? -
September 11, 2026
What Social Media Taught This Planner about Reaching Residents
When Brittany Simmons started posting content on social media, her goal was to make urban planning more relatable and engaging for people outside of the profession. -
September 10, 2026
Permit-Ready Housing Plans: Lessons from Four Cities
The housing crisis has prompted communities across the U.S. to explore innovative approaches, such as permit-ready plans and pattern books, to increase housing supply. -
September 9, 2026
Is Transit Primed to Be the Next Abundance Movement?
The Institute for Progress recently published the "Transit Abundance Playbook," a collection of 15 essays by researchers, planners, and practitioners aimed at changing the conversation and speeding transit project delivery while reducing costs. -
September 4, 2026
Making Sense of Emerging Practice: AI in Planning Use Cases
The most common use cases of AI are permitting/development and transportation, but the variety of cases shows that planners and public agencies use AI across all scopes of their work. -
September 4, 2026
The Signals We Send: What Your Body Language Says Before Speaking a Word
Learn how to use body language to build trust, strengthen engagement, and communicate more effectively with colleagues, stakeholders, and community members. -
September 4, 2026
Trump Administration Proposes Federal Funding Guideline Change
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued its proposed Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance for public comment. The proposed rule makes a variety of changes affecting recipients of more than $1 trillion in federal funding. Learn more on the potential impacts on local planning and how APA is working to voice planners' concerns. -
August 27, 2026
New Toolkit Provides Gender‑Inclusive Mobility Strategies for Planners
Modern mobility and transportation systems have been designed primarily with men in mind. It is a reality that makes it harder on those who don’t — or can’t — travel during a default male user’s schedule. -
August 24, 2026
Feeling Overwhelmed? Practical Ways Planners Can Rebuild Resilience
Psychologist Janelle McNeal shares how to balance demanding work with rest, recovery, and self-compassion. -
August 24, 2026
Turn Community Input Into Evidence, Not Anecdotes
Sponsored Content from Maptionnaire: In community engagement, sticky dots on a paper map look like real input. But who put each dot there, and why? Digital mapping turns that input into evidence, not anecdotes. -
August 24, 2026
Data Centers and the Future of Economic Development
Data center development is a highly contentious local economic development issue. But it isn't happening in a vacuum. Data center development has the potential to amplify or mitigate five key challenges for the future of economic development. It also isn't the first large-footprint land use to spark widespread concerns. -
August 20, 2026
Longer Crosswalk Distances Linked to More Collisions
Uncovering JAPA: Longer pedestrian crossing distances are linked to higher collision rates, highlighting how planners can improve safety through targeted interventions such as curb extensions and refuge islands. -
August 19, 2026
Congratulations to the 2026 Divisions Council Achievement Awards Winners
Each year, the American Planning Association (APA) Divisions Council (DC) Achievement Awards recognize some of the most outstanding achievements across the 25 divisions, and the 2026 awards met that standard. -
August 13, 2026
Planner Profile: Meet Kestride Estil, AICP
Kestride Estil, AICP, is a planner, designer, and project manager in Atlanta, Georgia. Estil also is a member of the Georgia Chapter of the American Planning Association. -
August 11, 2026
APA Invites Planners to Shape National Planning Conference (NPC27) in Houston
NEWS RELEASE: APA invites educational session proposals for the 2027 National Planning Conference in Houston, inviting planners to share innovative ideas, research and practical solutions. Proposals are due August 26, 2026. -
August 10, 2026
Five Challenges for the Future of Economic Development
Five interrelated threats to the economic development status quo may necessitate new economic development approaches, methods, or tools: AI-related automation, e-commerce and remote work, declining birth and immigration rates, property tax revolt (redux), and climate change costs. -
August 7, 2026
Check In on Short-Term Rental Regulations Before Long-Term Residents Check Out
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: What have we learned over the past 15 years about what works when it comes to zoning for short-term rentals? -
August 6, 2026
The Evolving Municipal Bond Market for Housing
Uncovering JAPA: Learn how changes in the municipal bond market could affect affordable housing financing, public investment, and long-term housing affordability. -
July 30, 2026
Three Lessons from California's Gentle Density Efforts
Uncovering JAPA: Learn how California’s ADU reforms reveal the opportunities and challenges of using homeowners, and small developers, as drivers of neighborhood densification. -
July 27, 2026
State Limits on Local Zoning: By the Numbers
Over the past 10 years, many states have adopted laws that preempt aspects of local zoning authority. Some of these laws aim to increase housing supply, while others establish protections for specific nonresidential uses. Keeping up with these changes is challenging but necessary for planners. -
July 27, 2026
Rehearsing How to Respond to Uncertainty
Career Resilience: Learn how mental rehearsal can help make stressful situations feel less fraught with the unknowns. -
July 23, 2026
Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Online Civic Engagement
Uncovering JAPA: Learn how digital engagement platforms can strengthen and undermine meaningful public participation, and what planners should consider before relying on such platforms. -
July 16, 2026
Designing Parks for the Ebb and Flow of Use
Uncovering JAPA: Learn how smartphone data is helping planners uncover the daily and seasonal rhythms of park use, leading to time-based park classifications that can inform more responsive design, programming, and management. -
July 14, 2026
Planner Profile: Meet Luis Balderrama, AICP
Planner Profile: Luis "Will" Balderrama, AICP, is a military planner and a member of the Alabama Chapter of the American Planning Association. -
July 13, 2026
Housing Reform: What's Inside the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Law
The following Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) provide a comprehensive overview of the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing law and its broader implications for the American housing market. -
July 11, 2026
American Planning Association Celebrates Enactment of Bipartisan Housing Law to Boost Supply
NEWS RELEASE: APA applauds the enactment of the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act into law, a landmark investment in planning-led housing solutions that provides communities with new tools to increase housing supply, improve affordability, and expand housing choice. -
July 10, 2026
Could a Zoning Overlay Turn the Tide on Coastal Resilience?
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Planners need new tools to mitigate climate-related risks in coastal communities. One such tool is the Coastal Hazards Overlay District (CHOD), new type of zoning overlay that encourages communities to diversify their risk reduction strategies. -
July 10, 2026
Lessons from Rural Community Development
Uncovering JAPA: Learn how rural community development informs planning through local capacity, collaboration, and community-driven solutions that bridge the urban-rural divide and address rural needs. -
July 2, 2026
Where Will the Warehouses Go?
Uncovering JAPA: Learn how planners are using zoning to manage warehouse development and why stronger environmental justice policies are essential for more equitable freight planning. -
June 30, 2026
What New Zealand Taught Me About Climate Planning
As an Axford Fellow, Paul Holland, AICP, was eager to explore the link between security challenges in the Pacific Islands and the climate impacts affecting land use, as well as how New Zealand addresses climate policy challenges.
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