Content about Urban planning

The 2012 National Infrastructure Summit is coming up this September10-12 in Regina (SK), Canada and in conjuction with this event, an innovative challenge is being introduced as a form of social engineering. The event focuses on the creation and elaboration of the best and sustainable ideas related to the growth of the City of Regina. Architects, engineers, students, city planners and innovators from around the world are invited to enter the Morph My City Challenge (MMCC) - two innovative competitions aiming to encourage and reward radical new approaches to sustainable urban planning.

The American Planning Association (APA) is gearing up for it’s 2012 National Planning Conference in Los Angeles next month (April 14-17), and the Technology and Planning Division have some great sessions set for this year. From what we’ve heard, this year’s program calls for sessions on 3-D simulation, performance measurement tools, as well as citizen engagement programs and GIS applications. Here is a list of sessions which intrigued us, and we wanted to share with you...

A community planner from the “Back 40”, working on a multi-jurisdictional planning process for a small, rural community recently posed this question on Cyburbia. Planner.tk, a local design firm associate and community planner with a passion for 'saving the environment', inquires about how to drum up successful public participation in their county of less than 30,000 people. Insights and ideas came in from fellow Cyburbia members regarding useful techniques in community development as well as unique challenges faced by planners focused on rural areas.

Communities across the country are celebrating National Community Planning Month this October. The month long “event”, sponsored by the American Planning Association (APA), its members, chapters, divisions, and professional institute, was developed to recognize the vital role of planners and planning in communities throughout the U.S. At EngagingCities, we have been encouraged historically by the amount of participation we’ve seen with this celebration at a local level here in Colorado. We are excited to see what is in store for 2011’s celebrations around the nation.

In small towns, citizens can attend town hall meetings, and vote directly on major changes to the community, while in larger cities, allowing every resident to have a voice in shaping his community’s built environment can be quite complex. Coincidentally, the sheer number of new projects that arise in large cities, like New York for example, can overwhelm residents, and leave folks with the impression that they have actually do not a voice in the decision making process. However, an interesting new open-source urban planning program is now available that could change the way in which architectural projects move from design to reality.

I have always been impressed with the substantial body of public participation (P2) knowledge and experience that resides in the urban planning profession. This will be my third year chairing the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) Core Values Awards, and each year IAP2 has received high quality urban planning projects from around the world. It got me thinking that public participation practitioners in any sector have lots to learn from their colleagues in urban planning.

On a personal note, we have a busy three weeks planned for EngagingPlans: Attend the American Planning Association (APA) conference in Boston (April 9 - 12).