Policy and Advocacy
Be an Advocate
Speak Up for Good Planning
APA gives you resources for advocating in your local community. Get tips and ideas for discussing planning topics with your elected representatives. Or, learn to develop and deliver positive messages to the media and strategic partners with our Communications Guide, available only to APA members.
Policy and Advocacy Networks
Planners’ Advocacy Network
If you are an APA member, consider joining this network to engage in grassroots advocacy and:
- Influence policymakers on key issues affecting planners
- Shape APA’s policy and advocacy work
- Gain access to special events, reports, training and assistance
- Receive policy event discounts
- Participate in local events
- Take advantage of leadership opportunities
Even if you have only a few minutes a day, or an hour a week, you can volunteer to be an advocate and member of the advocacy network. Sign up by visiting MyAPA and updating your membership information.
Join HereLegislative Action Center
Send action alerts, find and contact your elected officials, and track state and federal legislation. Access the directory to connect with APA state chairs and district captains to learn more about federal and state legislation, and how to get involved.
Policy Issues
View APA’s policy guides outlining official association positions representing members’ collective thinking, and actions to improve the political environment for planning.
APA conducts national policy polls to gauge opinions and perceptions about planning and planners. APA's survey of millennials and baby boomers dispels popular assumptions on how to improve local economies and attract new residents.
Each year, APA adopts a slate of legislative priorities to advance planning.
Amicus Curiae
APA works to advance planning through the judicial process by filing amicus curiae — friend of the court — briefs in select cases of national importance.
Communications Guide
This online, interactive guide designed to help planners develop and deliver positive values-based messages about planning and APA to targeted audiences.
Growing Smart
The Guidebook and its accompanying User Manual are the culmination of APA's seven-year Growing Smart project.
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September 21, 2016
Health, Infrastructure, and Land Use Law at APA's Policy and Advocacy Conference
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September 21, 2016
Planners Take a Stand for Parks, Place-Based Initiatives on Capitol Hill
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September 21, 2016
What Had Planners Talking at the Policy and Advocacy Conference
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September 21, 2016
Change the Street, Change the World
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September 21, 2016
Smart Cities and Data: Generating the Big Ideas
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September 19, 2016
HUD Previews Prosperity Playbook at APA's Burnham Forum
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September 19, 2016
Be an Advocate for Planning Right from Home
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September 19, 2016
Advocacy Training: How to Make Friends and Influence Policy
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September 15, 2016
August 2016: Plan4Health Blog Digest
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September 14, 2016
Better Transportation Plans, Better Communities
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September 20, 2016
The First Principles of Urbanism: Part I
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September 12, 2016
Smart City Challenge Winner Readies for Implementation
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September 8, 2016
Can You Sue the Government for Climate Change Impacts?
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September 2, 2016
The Quaint Columbus Neighborhood That Is Ready to Get Smart
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August 31, 2016
Mayor Buckhorn: Parks Add Tremendous Value to Life in Tampa
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August 26, 2016
New Taxing Districts Access Federal Transit Funds for Chicago
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August 25, 2016
Federal Appropriations Fails, Stopgap Spending Bill Likely
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August 25, 2016
Tulsa Transforms Blighted Recreation Centers into Quality Parks
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August 22, 2016
Recent Supreme Court Decisions and Street Graphics Law
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August 16, 2016
The 4 Ways Urban Parks Bring Value to City Life
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August 15, 2016
Take Action: Support Federal Investment in Urban and Community Parks
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August 9, 2016
Podcast: Creating Urban Parks in D.C.'s NoMa
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August 4, 2016
What’s the Future of Farmland for Food Production?
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August 5, 2016
Help APA Celebrate Local Parks This August
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August 2, 2016
From Planning to Public Service: Podcast Interview with Jack Molenaar, AICP
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August 3, 2016
Congress Is Home: Take Advantage of the August Recess
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July 26, 2016
The Evolution of Food Systems Planning in Kansas
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July 25, 2016
"Planning Chicago" Sparks Conversations Around Reinvigorating Planning
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July 15, 2016
House Appropriations Bill Harms EPA, Interior Programs
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July 14, 2016
Study: Why Do Communities Adopt Inclusionary Zoning?
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July 22, 2016
New Resources for Local Food Systems Planning
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July 7, 2016
Pike Place Market Retains Its Historical Flavor
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July 6, 2016
Cities Subsidize Ride-Sharing to Boost Transportation Connections
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July 2, 2016
Celebrating July 4 in Great Places
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July 20, 2016
Parks Without Borders: A Free Vision for Urban Space
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June 29, 2016
Solving Chicago's Affordable Housing Conundrum
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June 27, 2016
Passion for Parks and Green Infrastructure
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June 29, 2016
Now Open: Registration for 2016 Policy and Advocacy Conference
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June 23, 2016
Senate Committee Advances FY2017 Funding Bill for Interior and EPA
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June 21, 2016
Columbus, Ohio, Awarded 'Smart City' Grant
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June 20, 2016
Prioritizing Urban and Community Parks Can Boost Health and Social Equity
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June 18, 2016
Historic Preservation District Authority Under Threat in State Legislatures
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June 15, 2016
Automated Vehicles and the Next Great Transformation of the Built Environment
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June 15, 2016
Planning for the Autonomous Vehicle Revolution
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June 7, 2016
Smart Cities: Behind the Scenes With Austin, Portland, San Francisco
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June 7, 2016
TIGER Grant Sends Asheville's Planning Initiatives Roaring Ahead
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June 10, 2016
CPAT Volunteer Planners Boosting Urban Revitalization in Belize
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June 6, 2016
Congress Moves Forward on Transportation, Housing Spending
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June 7, 2016
Environmental Justice Through Planning
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June 16, 2016
Find Your Great Place This National Trails Day
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June 6, 2016
House Subcommittee Considers Interior, Environment Funding Levels for FY2017
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June 6, 2016
Behind the Scenes: Smart City Challenge Finalists
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May 27, 2016
House and Senate Move Toward Conference on Energy, Debate LWCF
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May 26, 2016
Aviation and Economic Development Equals Aerotropolis
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May 24, 2016
APA Staff Takes Part in National Bike to Work Day
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May 24, 2016
How Federal Transportation Funding Is Creating Opportunity in North Carolina
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May 25, 2016
Acute Affordable Housing Shortages Engender New State and Local Approaches
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May 25, 2016
Beyond Mobility: Transportation's Role in Achieving Equity
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May 17, 2016
Share Why Bike #InfrastructureMatters
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May 10, 2016
Inside Look: Grand Opening of KC Streetcar
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May 5, 2016
Podcast: The Streetcar Returns to Kansas City
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May 24, 2016
Legislators Express Support for Brownfields Reauthorization in House Hearing
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May 3, 2016
Appropriations Work Stalls in Senate as THUD Bill Nears Final Vote
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May 2, 2016
APA’s Statement on the Water Resources Development Act
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April 29, 2016
A More Perfect Union: Planning in Urban and Community Forestry
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July 12, 2016
Senate Commerce Committee Advances Digital Coast Legislation
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April 27, 2016
Senate Passes Permanent LWCF Reauthorization in Energy Reform Bill
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April 19, 2016
One Water: The New Way to Plan
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April 18, 2016
Water: Cities' Biggest Risk?
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April 12, 2016
Advocates in Action at NPC
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April 6, 2016
Reconnecting People with Place in Phoenix’s Art District
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April 11, 2016
Telling the Planning Story at the Next Level
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April 6, 2016
Get Your Walk On
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April 5, 2016
Federal LWCF Funding Helped Develop Phoenix's Encanto Park
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April 5, 2016
At the Intersection of Planning and Public Health: Kane County, Illinois
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April 6, 2016
'The Issue of Our Time': APA, HUD Address Income Inequality, Equitable Growth
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March 30, 2016
HUD's Prosperity Playbook Could Boost Denver Housing and Transportation
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March 29, 2016
NOAA Unveils New Water Resources Dashboard
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March 28, 2016
HUD Prosperity Playbook Tour Lands in the Twin Cities
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March 29, 2016
New Policy Briefs on Health and Housing
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March 22, 2016
Shared Mobility: A Complement to Public Transportation
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March 24, 2016
States Looking to Prevent Municipalities from Regulating Short-Term Rentals
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March 21, 2016
APA Members Rate the State of the Union
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March 21, 2016
What the President’s Final State of the Union Address May Mean for Planners
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March 21, 2016
Final Obama State of the Union Speaks to Core Values of Planning
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March 20, 2016
Support Federal Programs That Make American Communities Just
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March 20, 2016
President’s FY 2017 Budget in Detail: Department of Housing and Urban Development
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March 20, 2016
President’s FY 2017 Budget in Detail: Conservation, Water, Hazard Mitigation, and Federal Data
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March 21, 2016
Election Year Advocacy? YES, You Can!
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March 21, 2016
APA Unveils 2016 Legislative Priorities — Get Involved Today
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March 21, 2016
A Congressional Invitation to Be a Planning Advocate
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March 21, 2016
The Iowa Caucus: An Opportunity for Planners
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March 21, 2016
APA Partners with HUD on Solutions for Local Prosperity
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March 20, 2016
President Unveils Final Budget Proposal, Congress Begins Budget Work
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March 20, 2016
President’s FY 2017 Budget in Detail: Department of Transportation
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March 20, 2016
Obama's Final Budget: Why Does It Matter to Planners?
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March 21, 2016
Support Federal Data and Funding Programs that Strengthen American Communities
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March 20, 2016
Emerging Planners: Five Reasons to Be an Advocate
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March 21, 2016
Federal Initiative Aims to Make Walking Easier in Indiana
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May 25, 2016
Bikeshare Programs Could Start Getting More Federal Money
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March 20, 2016
Planners Carry the Message in Annual Trip to Capitol Hill
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March 21, 2016
Support CDBG — Sign the National Letter Today
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March 20, 2016
The Role of Public Markets in Community Building
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March 28, 2016
A Game Changer for Kansas City
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May 25, 2016
White House ‘Opportunity Project’ Harnesses Open Data Technologies for Communities
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July 29, 2016
Planners Get the Message: You're Leaders for Change