"From Jersey to Dixie: Issues of Place and Planning" is a documentary, created by Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy students Brandon McKoy and Susannah Dyen, that compares and contrasts planning issues in New Jersey and the Southern region of the United States (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana).

Registration Open!  As the lights come back on in New York and New Jersey, the region looks to the future. How can planning create a more resilient region? Who will make the tough decisions? And how will they change the way people live, work, and play along the coastal shores?

As bike sharing systems are proliferating in cities across the US, and early systems in Boston and Washington, DC are coming of age, we examine the different metrics on which bike share programs can be evaluated. What does bike share success mean? Financial self-sufficiency, or even profitability? Improved mobility? Improved public health? Reduced GHG emissions? How can we measure the cultural impact of bike share? Or should we simply be concerned about operational success--keeping the trains running on time.

Please join us in a candid and information discussion among students and professionals about the realities of the planning profession.  Obtain insight, career advice, and network with practitioners.  

 Using 13 cases studies of the largest PHAs in the Pacific Northwest Region, this webinar outline what activities PHAs are undertaking in this devolved, market-based context, speculating about the future. PHAs make trade-offs among paths that emphasize agency survival, producing more housing for the poorest households, identification as a non-profit housing provider (rather than depending on HUD), poverty alleviation, merging with another public agency, or closing. This diversity of responses points to the under-valued attribute of public housing authorities as local organizations receiving diverse mandates from the federal government and as local housing providers.

Join us on Saturday, April 20^th, for a leisurely stroll through the beautiful Borough of Frenchtown, named One of New Jersey’s Great Places by the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association – and we’ll show you why it deserves this title! 

Members will learn the basics of energy pipeline operations and maintenance, facilities, and products transported. They will gain an understanding of the risks and benefits pipelines pose to the community. Members will learn the agencies that regulate pipelines at the Federal, State and local level. They will learn the role that local governments can play in improving pipeline safety. Additionally they will learn risk based practices for land use and development planning near transmission pipelines. They will be provided with examples of good and poor development near pipelines and well as the location of additional technical information and financial resources to support their efforts to improve safety of the community and the built environment near pipelines.

Save the Date: Thursday, June 6, 2013. The conference will be held at the Newark Museum. The conference is co-hosted by the NJ Historic Trust, NJ Historic Commission, NJ Historic Preservation Office, and the Common Wealth of New Jersey. 

Recent federal legislation on collocations, FCC non-binding guidance and now state level legislative proposals could dramatically impact your community's planning authority and local zoning of wireless facilities towers. In this webinar, BB&K telecommunications attorneys will provide an overview of the challenges and opportunities facing local governments as they attempt to protect local interests while complying with federal requirements governing zoning of wireless facilities and to defeat damaging state legislative proposals that are sweeping the nation.

The 5th Annual Sustainable Raritan River Conference will focus on action steps everyone can take as individuals, as families, as part of a company or as a leader in government – to improve water quality in the region through redevelopment, remediation, restoration and protection of the Raritan River and all its tributaries.

Featuring front-line Executive Directors from NYC - Kerry McLean from the South Bronx and Rebeca Ramirez from the Heart of Brooklyn - NJ'sJGSC Group, developer Steve Santola and commercial real estate CEOBrian Silbert.

 In this webinar we examine a few failed projects that damaged the financial position of the municipality that undertook them and consider what lessons we can learn from these unfortunate situations. “The wise learn from other people's mistakes and fools from their own.” –Old Proverb. “The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.” –King Solomon, Circa 950 A.D.

Please join APA-NJ as it celebrates one of its 2012 Great Place in New Jersey award winners with a Walking Tour of Broad Street, Hopewell Borough.  The Hopewell Borough Mayor, Council members and other local stakeholders will walk with us and discuss the efforts made to retain the historic qualities of the area while seeking and investing grant monies into streetscape improvements

Come explore Orange’s Valley Arts District - a strikingly rich multicultural community nested in the Valley of West Orange and Orange. This is a terrific opportunity for planners to uncover the history and vibrant culture in the Valley Arts District.

USGBC and the Land Use Law Center at Pace University have recently launched two new, free resources to help municipalities utilize the LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system to support their sustainable planning goals. While certification under the rating system is often best suited to development projects, many elements of the rating system can be utilized as an open-source tool to strengthen local government planning efforts. These two resources explore in great detail the ways in which the rating system can be utilized translating those into direct action for planners complete with numerous case study examples.

Addressing the Needs of LGBT Seniors: Seniors in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community face a unique, and significant, set of obstacles to aging comfortably, including discrimination, lack of certain legal protections, and an absence of a family support system. Examine current trends in addressing the needs of LGBT seniors as well as innovative programs and services to help them age in place.

New York is known the world over as a city of walkers and straphangers, not to mention one of the most popular tourist destinations anywhere with five very distinct boroughs, clashing street configurations, and a variety of naming and numbering conventions. Despite huge volumes of residents and visitors walking and using transit, most existing on-street directional information is aimed at drivers. This webinar will introduce participants to the basics of wayfinding with a focus on the system design and program development in NYC. There will be a Q & A session at the end of the webinar.

On Monday, October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy struck New York City, the most populous region in the United States. Sandy was the biggest Atlantic storm in history, devastating homes and businesses across the Northeast, and causing over $19 billion in damages in New York City alone. In response to this disaster, the New York Metro Chapter of the APA undertook a six month effort to assess how Superstorm Sandy impacted businesses in Rockaway, Queens, a community uniquely situated on a narrow peninsula and one of the hardest-hit areas of New York City. This webinar walks you through the process that the New York Metro Chapter team took to conduct its needs assessment and develop meaningful recommendations for strong planning.

Join the placemaking experts from Project for Public Spaces, Philadelphia's University City District, and the C.L.U.E Group (along the Montclair Center District itself) for this workshop.  You will learn about key principles for creating great community places, scalable & innovative placemaking in practice, and innovative funding sources for making local public improvement projects happen.