Roundabouts are becoming more common in American communities as a powerful tool for moving traffic while enhancing walkability for people of all ages, especially when designed well. Dan Burden of Blue Zones LLC, one of America’s leading walkability experts, is featured as this month speaker in APA’s Urban Design & Preservation Division webinar series to examine the most essential design features of roundabouts, as well as how to design and operate them for walking, bicycling, driving, and freight movement, illustrating what works best and why.

The Policy and Advocacy Conference will present an opportunity to ensure last year's landmark investments in planning deliver on the promise for a more equitable, resilient future. This is your opportunity to network with fellow planners across the country, participate in professional development sessions, and hear from top decision-makers to advance legislation that is important to you.

This session is geared toward planning consultants at all levels, but can also be useful for planners with communities or agencies that use planning consultants. First will be a presentation on topics brought up by our members during our monthly PPD meetings. Then we will have a facilitated discussion to respond to questions, inviting attendees to weigh in on their experience.

This webinar will describe different approaches and use cases for public charging infrastructure, the kinds of considerations communities need to take in land use planning, and the emerging best practices in land use regulation for EV-charging.

The past three years have shone a light on the strengths and shortcomings of planning and zoning through events like the 2020 protests for social justice, the pandemic, environmental crises, and the housing crisis. There is an increasing appreciation for walkable environments, and how they can improve health, the environment, mobility, and connectivity. Our firm, which focuses on zoning codes, has been critically examining the services we provide, and how we can both meet modern challenges and also try to acknowledge and repair past harms. As professionals, we are trying to do better. In this episode, we’ll talk about how we can critically examine zoning codes to center equity, resiliency, and walkability in our land use policy.

Did you know that local sign ordinances can advance or deter the idea of social equity in your community? For example, in Brooklyn, NY, "Old School" large lettering and repetition generates a sense of inclusivity and openness, while brevity, wordplay and other linguistic elements of gentrifying "New School" signage signal exclusion. The authors of What the Signs Say will analyze two critically different types of local retail signage to help planners and local officials examine how sign regulations may contribute to inequity and exclusions. This session will incorporate ethnographic observation, interviews and storefront texts from Brooklyn, New York, to discover signage models and methods that ensure equity, diversity and inclusion.