American Planning Association

2014 AICP Symposium - Originally Recorded on October 29, 2014 at the National Building Museum

"Housing Equity and Healthy Housing Choices"

Featuring:

Carol Payne, Director, Baltimore Field Office of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Derek Hyra, Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration and Policy, American University

Jonathan Wilson, Deputy Director, National Center for Healthy Housing

February 24, 2015

This talk drew upon lessons from the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP), a collaboration of the Urban Institute and organizations in 35 cities. NNIP partners help local actors use neighborhood data to improve communities through policy, planning, and advocacy.

From her experience in NNIP, Kathryn Pettit of the Urban Institute discussed the types of information infrastructure needed to make good decisions in a local community — including open government data, integrated data systems, community indicators, and neighborhood data systems.

Examples from local partners demonstrated how stakeholders are using local data on health, housing, and education to set priorities and make better decisions, including examples from the Washington and Baltimore areas. For more information about NNIP, visit www.neighborhoodindicators.org.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Transit-oriented development (TOD) is defined by the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) of Northeastern Illinois as moderate to high-density, mixed-use communities generally located within a half-mile radius (10-minute walk) of a rail or bus station designed to maximize walkability and transit access. Interest in TOD is driven by its ability to reduce traffic congestion; changing demographics; and a desire to live in mixed-use, sustainable, and walkable communities accessible to transit.

In this program, Heather Tabbert, AICP, and Tony Manno, both from the RTA, discuss how the Community Planning program has transformed over the years in response to the needs of communities, the results of a recent survey of TOD residents, and case studies of several diverse communities from throughout the region that have taken TOD planning from vision to reality.

Climate risks and sustainable growth are shared responsibilities — engineers, architects, planners, and developers are uniquely placed to improve the built environment. Sustainable development can both reduce emissions and cities' vulnerability to climate change and many impacts can be avoided, reduced, or delayed. Cities have the right density, economic conditions, and geographic scale for efficient public transport; recycling of water, waste, and materials; and energy production, distribution, and use. However, few cities have reached their full potential in these areas. There are major benefits with creating cities with substantial efficient use of resources, where transportation and use of infrastructure is both effective and attractive, land is used optimally, and the impacts on water and the natural environment are limited.

Cooperation and synergies require more coordinated solutions, as well as new construction with better environmental performance and more energy efficient transport vehicles. In this program, Stellan Fryxell from Tengbom architects, and Erik Freudenthal, from GlashusEtt, presented an overview of SymbioCity, the Swedish approach to fostering sustainable urban systems and processes. And they used the Hammarby Sjöstad waterfront redevelopment project in Stockholm, Sweden, to illustrate how the SymbioCity approach has been applied at the district scale.

Private Capital, Public Good

Featuring Guest Speaker Congressman John Delaney and a panel discussion with Ben Hecht, CEO of Living Cities, John Rahaim, Planning Director of the City and County of San Francisco, and William Anderson, FAICP, President of the American Planning Association

Today's fiscal and political realities make private and philanthropic investments ever more important to building communities. New tools like social impact bonds are rapidly moving from concept to reality. In Washington, Congress is debating how to leverage private and nonprofit involvement in infrastructure and housing. The latest Burnham Forum will zero in on these issues from the perspectives of the investors and communities working with new partners.

September 23, 2014

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) projects a population increase of 1.96 million people and 1.24 million jobs in the Northeastern Illinois region by the year 2030. And the cumulative impact of planning decisions throughout the region will determine the degree to which the built environment will satisfy the broad objectives of (1) meeting human needs efficiently; (2) creating economically viable and sustainable communities; (3) shaping the built environment in harmony with the landscape and the natural and cultural environments that frame the context of a specific project or area; and (4) nourishing the human spirit by creating beauty, diversity, order, justice, and opportunity.

In this program, Pete Pointner, FAICP, presented seven key principles to guide the future of planning practice. Drawing on his book Planning Connections, Pointner emphasized the cumulative effects of principle-based planning decisions, focusing on the important role that planners play in supporting people, the environment, and our economic well-being.

August 26, 2014

Until recently, climate change has correlated to polar bears and melting ice caps — heart rending, but safely distant. Yet climate-related extreme weather, combined with urban development, is starting to show its force, as realized by the severe droughts in California and the misery caused to millions of home owners and businesses as a result of urban flooding. With these impacts comes the potential for public mobilization and a renewed focus on the way we plan our towns and cities. But can we channel individual concerns over wet basements and leaky pipes into a broader public participation and advocacy movement?

This July, the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) launched Rain Ready (rainready.org), aimed at building an alliance of individuals and communities working together to find solutions to the problems of too much or too little water. Rain Ready is inspired by the growing number of resident actions groups in the Chicago region mobilizing as a result of the impacts of flooding in their area. It seeks to offer a response to their question: "What should we do?" In 2013, CNT launched Wetrofit — the nation's first service for property owners affected by urban flooding, and in 2014, CNT designed and promoted the Urban Flooding Awareness Act, which was passed unanimously by the Illinois General Assembly and requires the State of Illinois to carry out a study on the solutions to urban flooding.

In this program, Harriet Festing of CNT presented an overview of her organization's water-related work and discussed opportunities and challenges for planners as they engage their communities around the topic of urban water management.