Please join us for the fourth annual SCD Symposium (virtual), this year we are focusing on planner’s role in
reducing carbon emissions and helping our communities adapt to a future climate. This year’s symposium will feature a keynote by Brian Ross, Vice President, Renewable Energy and Interim Vice President, Communities at the Great Plains Institute, a panel focusing on carbon reduction strategies and a panel on climate adaptation strategies for planners.

Join the APA Foresight team for the launch of the 2025 Trend Report for Planners and an engaging exploration of the emerging trends and signals shaping the year ahead. Discover the insights planners need to tackle uncertainties and create thriving, resilient communities.

The State of Michigan recognizes that a robust childcare system is an economic development issue. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation recently published a Child Care Readiness Toolkit which guides municipalities to better integrate child care into planning efforts, zoning codes, economic development strategies, and local policies and procedures, to become more child care ready.

This session will introduce planners to the fundamentals of AI, the ethical implications of using AI in local government, and how to assess whether their county and its municipalities are ready to adopt AI. Topics will include the principles we aspire to uphold and specific rules of conduct, particularly as they relate to the adoption and use of technology. Our goal is to reinforce how these principles guide ethical planning and technology use across staff, government, and our communities.

The Watershed Conference offers sessions that will increase knowledge and skills, encourage discussions between stakeholders, and foster collaboration on specific issues and potential solutions.

Healthy food walk audits provide a dynamic way to assess the food landscape in neighborhoods, evaluating availability, proximity, routes, and infrastructure needs. In this workshop, participants will learn how to use walk audits to gather data on the built environment’s influence on healthy food access, including identifying gaps in food availability, barriers in transportation routes, infrastructure challenges, and opportunities for growing and value-added production.