In this intensive three-day workshop, led by Joseph Skupien (an expert with more than 25 years of NJ stormwater management experience), you will get a comprehensive overview of the steady flow capabilities of the current version (V4.1) of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis System program (HEC-RAS). 

This one-day seminar is designed to present an overview of NJ's Flood Hazard Area Control Act Rules (N.J.A.C. 7:13). Instructors will discuss these rules in detail, and will answer questions regarding the technical issues and regulatory requirements involved in obtaining flood hazard area permits. DEP staff will provide information on the recently adopted emergency rules aimed at promoting re-construction for Hurricane Sandy related projects. In addition, presenters will provide information on additional proposed changes to the Flood Hazard Regulations.

This conference is focused on preventing childhood obesity, reducing chronic diseases and creating healthy communities by using effective community prevention strategies, as well as implementing policy and environmental changes that have a lasting impact.

DVRPC's Strategies for Older Suburbs Roundtable Series highlights challenges older suburbs and downtowns are facing. The series provides a means for networking and exchanging ideas with similar organizations encountering the same concerns. This roundtable will feature presentations followed by peer discussion.

AICP certification qualifies you to testify in court as an expert witness. The “How to be an Expert Witness” presentation will include a breakdown of the process and procedure involved in expert witness testimony.

This interactive one-day workshop will engage Licensed Site Remediation Professionals (LSRPs) and other environmental professionals to work through a typical Site Remediation Program (SRP) Case starting with an ISRA triggering event, through all the phases of remediation (PA/SI/RI and RA), including applying for and implementing a remedial action permit and culminating in the issuance of an RAO.

Please join NJASLA for the 2014 Annual Meeting and 50th Anniversary Honoring Our Past....Enbracing Our Futures #NJASLA50. Go to the NJASLA website for all 2014 Annual Meeting info, highlights and registration. We look forward to seeing you in January!

A three-hour intensive workshop teaching how to focus your scarce time and money to maximize your business success! Designed for current and future business owners and operators, entreprenuers, and non-profit entities.

Test out your GIS knowledge and skill with hands-on GIS software application! With a focus on layout and core functionality, this 12-hour evening course offers an overview of ArcGIS components, basic display and map querying functions, metadata browsing and file management, basic analysis techniques, and map layout. Increase your software proficiency with practical, in-class exercises!

Get updates from APA on federal budget for planning programs, what's on the federal legislative horizon and the results of the chapter policy priorities survey.

The AICP Exam prep session is targeted at those who are taking the test in May or November of 2014, and will provide testing tips as well as an overview of material within each content area of the exam. Information will be provided on history,law, theory, plan implementation, functional areas, public participation, social justice, spatial areas and ethics. Resources will be identified to assist attendees with their studies.

New Jersey Future's Redevelopment Forum is a daylong conference that brings together close to 600 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.

The arts aren’t a diversion or a luxury.  They are important for the well-being of individuals and communities.  Many people already know about the power of the arts to enhance economic development. This webinar will discuss how the arts can help people develop and keep intellectual skills, build social connections, and more.  We will explore how creative placemaking can support the elements of human needs placemaking.

A Water Conservation Ordinance can help municipalities curtail unnecessary water waste. Sustainable Jersey’s Water Conservation Ordinance seeks to help extend available supplies through short-term drought periods, and to avoid recurrent drought warnings/water emergencies caused by late summer “drought.”

Join us for a discussion on urban and regional planning in Quebec and New England, where we examine how cities in both these areas will face the future. Featuring guests from Canada and the Northeastern US, our panelists will attempt to tease out why urban and regional planning has gone from visionary to ordinary. This conference seeks to redirect the momentum of contemporary city planning back toward a creative exploration of what places could be instead of what they are likely to become.

Please join DVRPC, the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, the Southern New Jersey Development Council, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Select Greater Philadelphia, and other leaders at "Investing in People and Places" to discuss Greater Philadelphia’s priorities for economic development. Business leaders from big and small companies will share why they chose to start, stay and grow their businesses in Greater Philadelphia.

This one-day class is meant for pond owners, pond managers, landscape architects, engineers and anyone involved with the design, management or maintenance of ponds. This course is structured to help you make the proper decisions regarding the appearance, function or up-keep of your pond. Starting with design, learn how to build a pond, including the construction of embankments and dams and the selection and installation of liners. You will also learn how to create and maintain a stable shoreline, create and aquascape littoral benches, and optimize habitat for fish and aquatic wildlife. 

Join ULI NNJ members and colleagues on Wednesday, April 23, 2014 at St. Peter’s University in Jersey City, as we engage in a profound dialogue and book signing with the author of “A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for Urban America,” Vishaan Chakrabarti. Mr. Chakrabarti is the director of Columbia University’s Center for Urban Real Estate (CURE) and a partner at SHoP Architects,

Come learn about the new trend of aging in place and how it may affect how we address affordable housing for seniors. Come join AHPNJ in the discussion with presenter Emily A. Greenfield, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Programs on Aging Coordinator at the School of Social Work at Rutgers University.

Each spring, RPA brings together more than 1,000 civic and business leaders from around the New York metropolitan area to discuss major issues affecting the prosperity and quality of life in the region. At this year’s RPA Assembly, speakers, workshops and interactive presentations will explore our initial research for the next regional plan and discuss how to create more livable, prosperous and equitable communities, protect ourselves from severe weather, and grapple with our fiscal and governance challenges.

This spring, all roads lead to Atlanta. Five thousand planners are heading to APA's 2014 National Planning Conference, April 26-30. It's the perfect place to see what's around the corner for the planning profession and communities around the world.

Technology is changing the way planning is conducted and open government is reshaping community engagement. Citizens now can access extensive information online and make use of government data, application processes, review procedures, and project commenting. Learn how this affects the planning commission's role as the interface between government and the public. The program also will look at the developing concept of participatory budgeting.

You are cordially invited to the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy Alumni Gathering. The school has organized this alumni event in the midst of the APA (American Planning Association) National Conference in Atlanta and would love it if you are able to attend! Even if you are not attending the APA conference, the alumni gathering is open to all Bloustein alums!

On April 29, 2014 the NJ Department of Health and ShapingNJ are co-presenting a special event with Rutgers University. Dena Seidel, Rutgers Center for Digital Filmmaking at the Mason Gross School of the Arts has produced a documentary feature entitled, Generation at Risk: Joining Forces to Fight Childhood Obesity, which now includes an interview with Commissioner O'Dowd, as well as several other experts in the field from within and outside of NJ.

Welcoming Remarks: “Recovery after the Recovery” James W. Hughes, Dean, Bloustein School New Jersey Forecast Nancy H. Mantell, Director, R/ECON™ Michael Lahr, Research Professor, Bloustein School Hot Real Estate Sectors: Warehouse/Distribution: Anne Strauss-Wieder, A. Strauss-Wieder, Inc. Data Centers: Jeff Hipschman, Managing Director, CBRE Multifamily Rental: Ronald S. Ladell, Senior Vice President, AvalonBay Communities, Inc.

Over the last 40 years local and state governments and land trusts have preserved millions of acres of farm and ranch lands using agricultural conservation easements. How have these programs succeeded and how will they further evolve? Come to celebrate and to learn from the nation's most successful programs.

Act now to register for the 2014 Spring Planning Forum: Making It Great Now, just a short hop across the state line in Allentown PA on May 13. The day promises to be full of new ideas and required information – hear from Andrew Howard of Team Better Block about how to kickstart revitalization with tactical urbanism, get your ethics credits while hearing about inclusionary planning and how to engaged underserved communities, enjoy lunch while hearing the latest from elected officials, and choose from afternoon sessions that highlight revitalization projects.

Plants are the most obvious clues to wetland boundaries. This two-day combination classroom and field course will teach you how to quickly and confidently identify plant species that are important in determining if an area meets the hydrophytic vegetation criterion for wetland delineation, focusing on ID characteristics. Learn basic plant ID groups, basic plant morphology and some basic botanical terminology.

Is gentrification a dirty word? How does revitalization impact existing communities? What is the perception versus reality of gentrification? Are we afraid to talk about gentrification....let's talk about it. This workshop will be taught by a published author, Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD and an Economist/Planner, Peter Angelides, Ph.D., AICP. Both industry experts will provide practical and clinical evidence on the topic of gentrification. You don't want to miss this discussion. Seats are limited!

Community coaching helps stakeholders build sustainable plans – and the shared leadership to implement them.   This model helps build relationships between planner and client that makes it possible to address the big, difficult issues that keep a community from moving forward.  It is a different approach to current models of planning practice, and it may challenge you to think about how you work with communities.

Register Residents of existing neighborhoods do not always welcome new development, and project opponents often cite density as a primary concern. Discover how to focus community conversations about infill and redevelopment on design. In this program, planning and design experts will explore how communities can use planning, design, and policy to minimize and mitigate the […]

Celebrate New Jersey’s 350th birthday at the Opening Reception hosted by the Advocates for New Jersey History on the evening before the conference at historic Thompson Park. The event recognizes leaders who have made significant contributions to advance history and historic preservation issues in New Jersey. This year we’re also commemorating NJ 350!

The conference is co-hosted by the NJ Historic Trust, NJ Historic Commission, NJ Historic Preservation Office, and the Common Wealth of New Jersey.

Please join NJ Future on Thursday, June 5, at their annual Smart Growth Awards gala celebration in the Metropolitan Room at the Newark Club, One Newark Center, Newark, as they honor the winners of this year’s Smart Growth Awards competition. The evening is one of the networking highlights of the year, drawing almost 300 land-use professionals, planners, attorneys, developers, and local and state officials.

Whether you work for local government, a Business Improvement District, or another local organization, effective communication with your constituents is essential. These days, much of our communication takes place online—either through websites or social media. How can you ensure that your constituents find the information they seek quickly and effectively? How can you use social media more effectively given time and budget constraints? We will discuss these questions and more.

PlanSmart NJ’s 3rd Annual Regional Planning Summit will bring together experts in the development and local decision making field to explore how the current regulatory system might be reformed to achieve better outcomes on the ground to stimulate the economy, protect the environment, and encourage land use patterns that create more vibrant communities served by public transportation.

Get new ideas for making places better through arts and culture and building more creative communities. Learn from experts in real estate development, public administration, arts management, and urban planning. Share your insights in peer learning sessions.

"Hazards Ahead - All Hands on Deck!" - Commencing Effective Action to Prevent Future Damage.  Join fellow hazard mitigation practitioners from all disciplines and regions as we pull together in turning our ship (and communities) toward a safer course.

In this annual review, planning attorneys assess the impacts on planning of U.S. Supreme Court, federal district court, and state court decisions. Topics will range from First Amendment issues to environmental actions, and from housing to equal access. Panelists also will discuss APA's amicus filings and significant legislative actions. The program website contains links to or copies of all cases discussed and suggestions for further reading. It's a lively, highly informative program that you and your staff, colleagues, and officials won't want to miss.

With the damage caused from hurricanes, tornadoes and floods around the United States, more communities are looking to be more ‘resilient.’  Resiliency is not just about creative physical improvements to withstand storms; it is also connects to a community’s ability to revitalize quickly after disaster.  Arts and culture can play a big role in helping communities recover.  We will explore examples from Louisiana, New Jersey and Missouri, and discuss how to connect creative placemaking with resiliency in community dialogues.