American Planning Association

Immigration is woven into American history. But what about its future? Each year APA's professional institute, the American Institute of Certified Planners, hosts a fall symposium on a timely topic in planning. As federal legislators debate immigration reform, this fall's symposium looks at how immigrants affect the economies and cultures of the cities where they live and work. Hear regional perspectives on a dynamic group of people and their role in places across the United States. Recorded on October 29, 2013 at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C.

Panelists

Fatima Shama

Leslie Wollack

Paul Farmer, FAICP, moderator

November 12, 2013

Across the country, hundreds of communities have embraced Complete Streets policies as a way to foster safer streets that serve everyone, not just drivers. But individual projects and general policies aren't enough: transportation agencies often struggle to reform decades of rules, practice, and politics that prioritize cars.

Barbara McCann, founding director of the National Complete Streets Coalition, has dug into what it takes to upend the way every transportation project is conceived, planned, and evaluated so each provides for people walking, bicycling, or taking the bus. McCann will discuss what she learned about why Complete Streets too often fail and what can be done to close that gap between policy and practice. She will share the stories of practitioners in cities and towns from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Colorado Springs, Colorado, who have made four fundamental changes in the way transportation projects are chosen, planned, and built.

November 19, 2013

A growing number of cities across the country have begun to acknowledge their waterfronts as valuable community assets through plans, capital investments, and development regulations. The Cal-Sag Channel and Little Calumet River wind through the ecologically rich, but economically challenged Calumet region in Chicago's south suburbs. The region has received attention lately through the state's Millennium Reserve initiative, a new land bank and transit-oriented development fund, and possible national park designation for the Pullman neighborhood, and it's poised to take advantage of its rich water assets.

At the center of much of this activity is the City of Blue Island, Illinois, an inner-ring suburb straddling both banks of the Cal-Sag Channel. Jason Berry, from the City of Blue Island, and Abby Crisostomo, from the Metropolitan Planning Council, discussed a number of water-oriented planning activities happening in Blue Island — from neighborhood-based approaches to green infrastructure and stormwater management, to community engagement in the creation of a waterfront plan, to regional-scale planning for an intercollegiate rowing center and more. They highlighted the lessons learned for integrating the recognition of water as an asset into community planning.

October 22, 2013

The American mobilization for World War II is famed for its industrial production; less well known is that it was also one of the greatest urban planning challenges that the United States has ever faced. Although Americans tend to think of World War II as a time of national unity, mobilization had a fractious side. Interest groups competed for federal attention, frequent — sometimes violent — protests interrupted mobilization plans, and seemingly local urban planning controversies could blow up into investigations by the U.S. Senate.

Drawing on her recently released book, Planning the Home Front: Building Bombers and Communities at Willow Run, Sarah Jo Peterson shows how the federal government used a participatory planning approach to mobilize the home front. For the massive Willow Run Bomber Plant, built in a rural area 25 miles west of Detroit, bringing the plant to success required dealing with housing, transportation, and communities for its tens of thousands of workers. It involved Americans from all walks of life: federal officials, industrialists, labor leaders, social activists, small business owners, civic leaders, and — just as significantly — the industrial workers and their families.

October 22, 2013

Despite the planning profession's origins in visionary thinking about the future of our cities, many contemporary planning practitioners are mired in the political battles of today and, therefore, can feel disconnected from the idea of imagining how the cities of tomorrow may have different needs and functions than the cities of today.

According to architect and urban designer Marshall Brown, from the Illinois Institute of Technology, future cities will be rooted in but not beholden to current realities. The cities of the future will likely be "mash-ups," recombining and repurposing infrastructure and design features.

Brown discussed his recent projects, including proposals for reimaging Chicago's Circle Center, and shared ideas about American cities and their futures.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

While the greater Chicago region has historically had access to ample fresh water, it can no longer assume that water supplies are infinite. Without coordinated planning and policy, the Chicago region may be in jeopardy of forfeiting future growth and prosperity.

Fortunately, a lot has happened since the 2010 release of Water 2050: Northeastern Illinois Water Supply/Demand Plan that bodes well for water supply planning and management in northeastern Illinois, including the creation of the Northwest Water Planning Alliance, momentum toward a modernized state plumbing code, and the creation of the Clean Water Initiative. At the same time, there remains a lot of work to, including developing a sustainable revenue stream to support ongoing regional water supply planning.

Josh Ellis, from the Metropolitan Planning Council, will summarize the current state of water supply planning in the Chicago region, and highlight opportunities for moving Northeastern Illinois toward a more sustainable water supply paradigm.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Since 2010, the American Planning Association (APA) has worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to examine the inclusion of public health goals within comprehensive plans and their implementation.

This presentation will identify best practices for the effective integration of public health goals into plans and successful approaches to cross-sector collaboration and community partnerships to implement those goals.

Anna Ricklin and Nick Kushner of APA's Planning and Community Health Research Center offer case study examples of how local government agencies can build upon partnerships for assistance and resources to translate a comprehensive plan from policy document into a set of actions to improve community health. As built environment factors increasingly determine public health outcomes, this presentation offers a clear and targeted avenue for intervention at the highest level of built environment planning.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

The more planners engage in collaborative participation the more they should expect to find people making judgments about the future tied to current emotional attachments. How do planners anticipate this and prepare activities and plans that encourage and foster emotional shifts?

Most planners and plans provide argument and evidence to inform clients about future changes giving reasons in support of different alternative responses. But these do not work in the face of emotional attachments to familiar and popular practices. The use of narrative and storytelling offers a way for professionals to anticipate and counter client attachments. Professor Charles Hoch, from the University of Illinois at Chicago, shared some highlights from his research about the effects of emotions on planning processes and discussed the power of narrative in planning.

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center Reuse Plan provides the urban framework for 66.5 acres of land to be transferred to the District of Columbia following closing of the military installation. The planning effort was led by the District Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development and the Office of Planning. This land has valuable frontage to 16th Street and Georgia Avenue, two major axial corridors, with the former originating in the White House and the latter being a major passageway between D.C. and Silver Spring.

Presenters Susana Arissó, AICP, and Martine Combal, AICP, discussed the cutting edge sustainable framework. This future neighborhood is set to become one of the five EcoDistricts in the Washington area, consisting of an exciting mixed-use development balancing new construction with historic buildings, open recreational spaces, destination retail, and residential, institutional and office uses totaling three million gross square feet. Located in an area of Georgia Avenue in dire need of revitalization, this plan envisions a "one-stop shop" for ordinary and extraordinary needs alike.

The U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and the right to bear arms. Nevertheless, land uses that are dependent on these guarantees continue to court controversy in many communities. Whether sparked by chronic concerns over threats to community character or more acute debates related to public safety, many planners find themselves on the front lines of battles over contentious uses that have some claim on being constitutionally protected.

Drawing from practice-based experience and lessons from case law, Adam Simon and Dan Bolin from Ancel, Glink discussed local regulatory issues related to strip clubs, churches, guns shops and other land uses entangled with rights flowing from the First and Second Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.