World Town Planning Day

2026 World Town Planning Day Online Conference

November 6, 2026 | Great Communities are Built on Planning: Together We Deliver, Together We Thrive, Together We Sustain

8:00 a.m. — 5:00 p.m. CST

Planning is most powerful when it is done together. By working together, planners, and communities, can co-create places that are not only well-designed, but equitable, resilient, and life-enhancing for all.

The American Planning Association and its International Division, along with our partners at the Canadian Institute of Planners, announce the 77th World Town Planning Day online conference to be held all day November 6, 2026 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Chicago time.

In a world facing interconnected social, environmental, and economic challenges, planners have a critical role in facilitating inclusion and partnerships to address major change (social,
environmental, technological, demographic, security threats) and in enabling inclusive processes that lead to tangible, positive outcomes

Building on the 2025 focus on participatory planning, the November 6th event will showcase planning practices of collaboration, co-design, and shared ownership between planners all the built
and natural environment professions and communities with a focus on outcomes that address inequities, improve the quality of life, and achieve outcomes and measurable impacts on
achieving the 2016 New Urban Agenda and UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Call for Session Proposals

The call for session proposals for the 2026 World Town Planning Day online conference opens Wednesday, August 26 through Friday, September 18th

About World Town Planning Day

Note: APA's 2026 World Town Planning Day Online Conferece will take place two days early on Friday, Novemember 6th.

On World Town Planning Day, 8 November every year, planners and communities all over the world come together to celebrate how good planning improves the lives of people and benefits society at large, creating places where to live, work, and play together.

Argentinian professor Carlos María della Paolera, a graduate at the Institut d'urbanisme in Paris, started World Town Planning Day in Buenos Aires in 1949.

World Town Planning Day is celebrated in 30 countries on four continents each November. It is a special day to recognize and promote the role of planners and planning in creating healthy, prosperous communities.

APA members are invited to share their knowledge and leading practices with colleagues around the world on this day, and also to learn from international success stories in housing for all; building city resilience; planning responses to urban crisis; inclusive and ambitious climate measures, and other areas that would enhance U.S. planning practice.