Check Out Our Passport Courses
Passport is your ticket to the training, experiences, and connections that will take you where you want to go in your planning career. Subscribe for unlimited access for one year to APA's extensive learning library of solution-oriented content facilitated by planners, for planners.
-
Housing Choices Game: A Scenario Planning Activity Toolkit
August 2024This toolkit highlights the Housing Choices Game, which is an interactive, scenario-based game to help policymakers and the general public learn more about ways to increase housing supply and affordability. -
Planning for Sustainable Food Systems: A Scenario Planning Toolkit
December 2023This guide aids planners and other practitioners in using scenario planning for assessing bioregional food systems. -
Philadelphia, PA, To Plan, First Imagine
January 2024This case study analyzes exploratory scenario planning as a tool to increase community participation in a long-range transportation planning process in the greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area. -
Scenario Planning in the 2020 IRP - An Approach for Exploring Uncertainty for Water Planning and Policy Discussion
April 2020This paper explores how scenario planning can be used to plan for future water supplies and demands and how best to prepare for water resilience and sustainability in Southern California. -
Exploratory Scenario Planning How to Navigate an Uncertain Future
August 2020This paper examines exploratory scenario planning as a method for communities to create plans for sustainable and resilient adaptation to social, technological, economic, environmental, and political forces that are not in their control. -
Scenario Planning Tools
June 2021This paper summarizes 12 scenario planning tools and assesses them on subject matter addressed, cost and access, and organizations that have used them. -
Questions People Ask About Scenario Planning for Cities
January 2021by: Robert Goodspeed, AICPThis post answers common questions that planners ask about scenario planning. -
Integrating Ecosystem Services Analysis into Scenario Planning Practice: Accounting for Street Tree Benefits with i-Tree Valuation in Central Texas
Journal of Environmental Management 146(2014): 524-534, 2014This article examines the benefits of public street trees for alternative future development scenarios and assesses the use of i-Tree as a model tool. -
Empowering Scenario Planning with Artificial Intelligence: A Perspective on Building Smart and Resilient Cities
Engineering, July 2024This article examines the potential of including artificial intelligence (AI) to assist in scenario planning practices. -
Recovery and Resilience: New Research on Exploratory Scenario Planning for Disasters
Land Lines Magazine, May 2024This post highlights Beaumont, Texas, as a recipient of Lincoln Institute’s Consortium for Scenario Planning which used exploratory scenario planning workshops to gather input from community members and other stakeholders. -
Scenario Planning – an Overview
Urban Planning and Design Branch, June 2012This article explains what scenario planning is and the difference between normative and exploratory approaches to scenario planning. -
Participatory Mapping in Exploratory Scenario Planning: Necessity or Luxury?
Futures 160, June 2024This article explores how participatory mapping processes can be used in exploratory scenario planning. -
Are Digital Twins the Future of Urban Planning?
Deep Dive, November 2021This post explores the possibilities of digital twins by analyzing case studies in the US. -
Digital Twin Technology for Sustainable Urban Development: A Review of its Potential Impact on SDG 11 in New Zealand
Cities 155: 1-13, 2024This article examines the impact digital twins have on the UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 in New Zealand. -
The Adoption of Urban Digital Twins
Cities 131: 1-12, 2022This article establishes the basis for the design, development, and adoption of digital twins. -
Virtual Public Engagement Strategy for Underserved Communities: Challenges and Solutions
August 2022This webinar explores how to design a sustainable and equitable virtual engagement strategy for local governments to implement. -
The Four Pillars of Ethical Digital Engagement
PM Magazine, March 2023This blog post explains the four pillars of designing an ethical digital engagement strategy which are transparency, accessibility, inclusivity, and follow-up. -
Building Trust Through Digital Services
PM Magazine, June 2024This blog post looks at how technologies used in local government and civic engagement increase the public’s trust in their local government. -
Anticipated but Unpredictable: Exploratory Scenario Planning for Climate Migration in Cleveland/Cuyahoga County, Ohio
August 2023This is a case study using exploratory scenario planning for climate migration in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, Ohio. -
The Many Futures of Lakewood, Ohio
Land Lines Magazine, April 2023This post highlights the use of exploratory scenario planning to inform an affordable housing action plan in Lakewood, Ohio. -
Four New Projects Will Use Scenario Planning to Explore Housing Affordability
Land Lines Magazine, August 2023This post highlights projects that used exploratory scenario planning workshops to increase housing supply and affordability. -
Scenario Planning for Climate Resilience
Land Lines Magazine, March 2022This post shares conversations from the Consortium for Scenario Planning conference held by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy that funding, COVID-19, and climate change are concerns for planners. -
Overcoming Obstacles to Scenario Planning
July 2022by: Robert Goodspeed, AICPThis post outlines obstacles planners and practitioners often face when doing scenario planning. -
Demographic Forecasting by Race and Ethnicity
January 2022This article outlines population and demographic forecasting to better inform planning decisions and ensure capital planning investments are equitable and sustainable. -
Digital Twin Cities for All: Inclusive Virtual City Planning
January 2024This article highlights the importance of addressing the needs of diverse populations when developing digital twin cities. -
Mapping the Nation
2024This book compiles organizations and groups who use GIS to address various issues communities face like climate change, equity and social justice, public safety, smart planning, and more. -
Urban scale digital twins in data-driven society: Challenging digital universalism in urban planning decision-making
International Journal of Architectural Computing 0(0): 1-16, 2022This article analyzes the role urban digital twins play in data-driven decision-making processes in urban planning and policymaking. -
Management of Climate Resilience: Exploring the Potential of Digital Twin Technology, 3D City Modelling, and Early Warning Systems
Sensors, February 2023This article examines how digital twins can aid in the creation of technology to build climate resiliency in communities, especially coastal low-lying areas. -
Local Digital Twins Empower Urban Planners for Informed Decisions
May 2024This post explores through case studies how digital twins can help in the decision-making process. -
Smart Cities Look for Digital Twins
March 2021This post explains the emerging technology cities have used to digitalize into digital twins. -
Bright Spots in Community Engagement
April 2013This guide highlights new ways communities are implementing engagement strategies and the successes and challenges they face. -
Making Public Meetings Accessible to All
June 2022This blog post shares best practices for ensuring in-person, online, and hybrid meetings are accessible to all. -
Technology and the City
Canadian Planning and Policy Journal 2024(1): 1-111, 2024This issue includes five articles that examine how emerging technologies are pushing planning practice in new and challenging directions. -
Best Practices for Virtual Engagement
May 2020This guide provides a list of best practices for virtual public engagement. -
COVID-19 and its Impact: Seven Essays on Reframing Government Management and Operations
2021This report includes seven essays that examine how local government and practitioners can transform their work, operations, services, and functionality considering the COVID-19 pandemic. -
Leveraging Social Media for Citizen Engagement in Urban Planning
July 2024This blog post explains how urban planners can use social media to increase community engagement. -
Cities Alive: Designing for Urban Childhoods
December 2017This report explains how and why city stakeholders should create child-friendly urban environments. -
From Policy to Practice: A Guide to Measuring Complete Streets Progress
May 2024This guide explains how local policy implementors and practitioners can use different measures to assess their Completes Streets implementation. -
Quick-Build Demonstration Projects
2024This page explores quick-build demonstration projects which are temporary installations that can test new street designs that improve safety and accessibility. -
Equity Resource Navigator
2024This page includes a collection of resources to support equity efforts by local officials and government staff. -
Complete Streets Policy Action Guide
February 2024This guide helps users create and improve a Complete Streets policy. -
Data Centers: Key Questions to Ask When Considering Data Centers in Your Community
March 2026by: AAAS EPI CenterThis guide presents questions for elected officials to direct toward data center developers and operators when considering siting a data center. -
Data Centers Are Coming. Here’s How Communities Can Negotiate for Local Benefit.
March 2026by: Jordana Barton-GarcíThis guide discusses how communities can engage with data center developers to ensure development benefits the community. -
The Local Implications of Data Centers for Rural Communities in the US
March 2026by: Anthony Pipa, Adam AleyThis guide summarizes discussions held during America’s Rural Future symposium regarding the impact of data centers in rural areas. -
Data Centers: The New Economic Development Gold Rush?
International Economic Development Council News, October 2025by: Nathan OhleThis blog post discusses the tradeoffs associated with data center developments. -
Data Centers and Environmental Considerations
September 2025This briefing paper examines the significant energy use and water consumption that data centers require. -
NACo Informational Primer and County Considerations: Data Centers
February 2026by: National Association of CountiesThis briefing paper highlights concerns associated with data center development and provides guidance for planners to ensure development aligns with broader community goals. -
Data Centers and Local Job Creation
The Country Economist, November 2025by: Michael HicksThis article discusses the effects of data center development on local labor markets. -
Emergency Management and the Final Frontier: Preparing Local Communities for Falling Space Debris
Risks, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy, 14(3): 247–266by: Jose Torres, AICPThis article presents the results of a study into whether and how local hazard mitigation and emergency management plans are considering space debris as a hazard risk. -
The Best Complete Streets Policies
2025This report overviews Complete Streets policies adopted in 2023 and 2024 and the strong framework leading towards transportation improvements.