Athens, Ohio recently adopted The Essence of Athens: A Strategic Design Plan for Economic Enhancement and Community Competitiveness. This community collaboration 'extracted' the spirit and personality of the community and encourages architects, landscape architects, and planners to color outside the lines of ordinary design and create things that make people say, "That's so Athens."

This webcast will discuss what local governments need to do to ensure that their sign codes comply with the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2015 decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert. That decision established that any sign regulation that "on its face" requires a consideration of a sign's content to determine how that sign will be regulated is "content-based" and subject to "strict scrutiny."

REGISTER Parking is a critical piece of a community’s infrastructure. It plays an important role in developing “mixed-use projects” and sustainable transportation. Parking also has a direct impact on the ability to create compact, healthy communities. Overly restrictive parking requirements can thwart efforts to build walkable communities that require less parking. Too little parking can […]

In this webinar you will learn what your community can do to prepare for, and land your next economic development prospect. It will cover the following items: (1) Current trends in Economic Development & Site Selection; (2) Understanding your target audience - What Prospects, Site Selection Consultants and other key players are looking for; (3) Understanding your product & target markets; (4) Before the prospect shows up – what can make your community competitive; and (5) The site visit and afterwards - practical pointers for closing the deal.

The National Center for Transit Research, Urban and Regional Information Systems Association and the Transportation Research Board are jointly presenting the 9th National GIS in Transit Conference, on September 1-3, 2015, in Washington, DC.

Join the RPA/NJIT Mayors’ Academy on Resilient Design for a public keynote presented by David Waggonner, president of Waggonner & Ball Architects and producer of the award-winning Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan. Mr. Waggonner will offer lessons of resilience and living with water for our region’s urban cities and towns. Light appetizers and refreshments will be served

The Stormwater Committee of the NJ-AWRA is sponsoring a new seminar series that will allow for education and discussion of different stormwater related topics. Jeromie Lange, PE from Maser Consulting will present on a recent study of the performance of Basins across the State. Glen Carleton of USGS will follow with a presentation on New Groundwater Mounding Analysis Software. Please join us in this exciting new initiative and opportunity for professional development and continuing education.

This two-day course on the redevelopment planning law process will provide a broader understanding of the crucial issues, steps and challenges associated with the New Jersey’s Local Redevelopment and Housing Law (LRHL). The workshop features a faculty with many of the top planners, attorneys, government officials and consultants from the New Jersey redevelopment arena who will share their real world redevelopment experiences.

Nowadays a wide variety of data from the US Census Bureau is easily accessible for anybody to use and it is relatively easy to create impressive looking maps and flowcharts. But how reliable is this data and can we really use it to inform planning decisions? This program will highlight some of the issues with the data especially with regard to liability, comparability and data aggregation. In addition, the program will briefly discuss why these issues are even more relevant when you use third party software.

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) can be used to evaluate a proposed plan or project’s potential effects on the health of a population. HIA provides evidence-based recommendations aimed at enhancing positive health impacts and minimizing negative ones, providing an approach to the decision-making process.

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) can be used to evaluate a proposed plan or project’s potential effects on the health of a population. HIA provides evidence-based recommendations aimed at enhancing positive health impacts and minimizing negative ones.

While aging in place enables older adults to live at home independently, Aging in Community promotes social capital—a sense of social connectedness and interdependence - with systems of support and caring to maximize one’s ability to remain at home in their community.

Increasingly young workers and baby boomers alike are leaving the suburbs for higher density mixed use areas with easily accessible public transportation. This renewed interest in living and working in urban areas is helping to drive an economic boom in some of New Jersey’s cities.

Join APA NY Metro for the 2015 Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony at Lerner Hall, Columbia University.

Join a conversation with Senator Cory Booker and distinguished experts in business and public policy to discuss the risks and repercussions of a Hudson rail tunnel closure, as well as the benefits of building additional cross-Hudson rail access as part of Amtrak's Gateway program.

Delve into the state of the real estate markets after the great recession. How have well-planned communities weathered the storm? Are more communities recognizing the importance of planning for economic development? Veteran planners look at new norms for home values, retail markets, development, and revitalization.

On Thursday, December 3, 2015, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital are co-hosting Philadelphia’s first Vision Zero conference. Vision Zero is based on the concept that road crashes are not accidents, but are preventable events. Road deaths, currently totaling nearly 100 per year in Philadelphia, can be reduced to zero through education, engineering, and enforcement.

Navigating NJ's complex regulatory system can be a cumbersome process and can result in costly and often conflicting results. Are there more effective solutions for managing growth in New Jersey?

Please join us on the evening of December 9th as we celebrate five decades of planning and regional cooperation, recognize the people, projects and programs that have transformed our region, meet new friends and partners, and be inspired for the next 50 years!

The New Jersey Urban Water Conference is a half-day event that will bring together state and local decision-makers, practitioners and stakeholders to build awareness of the importance of modern drinking water, stormwater and wastewater infrastructure as key to New Jersey’s prosperity.

Please join the Urban Essex Coalition for Smart Growth for "Creating a Vision for Station Areas in Urban Essex County's Urban Transit Corridor". Space is limited, RSVP today.

Coming up with reasonable and enforceable sign codes can often be a complex and controversial process. With so many community stakeholders caring about sign codes, it is important to get the most accurate, up-to-date information and expertise as possible. The seminar will present modules that educate on the technology within signs, sign code issues, understanding electronic message centers, and the importance of signs to business.

RegisterThis session will review significant changes in Federal Fair Housing requirements that occurred in 2015. Topics include the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Federal Fair Housing Act, HUD’s new rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, and the implementation of the rule through the Assessment of Fair Housing template. The session will help HUD […]

The purpose of the conference is to educate stakeholders and engage them in addressing the impacts of stormwater runoff from impervious cover. The workshop will acknowledge on-going efforts by the Sustainable Raritan River Collaborative and showcase their work. It will also provide attendees an opportunity to network and develop new partnerships so they can better achieve the goal of a sustainable Raritan River Basin.

Winning isn’t everything, but we can often learn a lot from plans, programs, and projects that have been deemed worthy of an award. In this session, speakers representing four winners of SCD’s 2015 Awards for Excellence in Sustainability will demonstrate how communities can function more sustainably.

For decades, the terms Central Business District, CBD and downtown were used almost interchangeably because, functionally, downtowns were dominated by retail stores, office based businesses, professionals and government agencies, along with some hotels and maybe entertainment venues.

The U.S. city was built for the baby boom. Its bones were formed when the U.S. was in its final decades of legal apartheid and fleshed out over four decades of rising inequality. The baby boom is still here and will continue to shape cities, suburbs, and rural areas. But we now need to accommodate a new generation— the millennials—whose coming of age will require millions of new rental housing units. Where will this housing be built?

New Jersey Future's Redevelopment Forum is a daylong conference that brings together more than 500 municipal and state leaders and leading professionals in planning, development, law, transportation, architecture, construction, environmental conservation and historic preservation to share best practices and lessons learned.

Understanding the challenges andopportunities communities face—economic, social, and environmental—is a prerequisite for making investments that achieve their goals. To respond to this need, environmental justice stakeholders have begun developing analytical tools that can give communities rich and accessible information for supporting local goals for environmental protection and equitable development in cities and regions.