Blog
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March 13, 2024
Big Batteries Are Changing the Energy Landscape
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Is your community ready for battery energy storage systems to help store the sun? -
February 9, 2024
Can Floating Homes Help Us Dodge Climate Hazards?
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Are floating homes part of the solution to rising sea levels and more frequent and severe storms? -
February 2, 2024
Now Is the Time to Plan for Our Solar-Powered Future
Solar energy is on its way to being the dominant source of power, but a smooth transition isn't guaranteed. Check out the new third edition of the Solar@Scale guidebook for fresh guidance on planning for utility- and community-scale solar development. -
January 12, 2024
Harnessing the Power of Patterns for Zoning Reform
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Can pre-reviewed plans, pattern books, and pattern zones pave the way to broader missing middle housing reforms? -
December 13, 2023
Disaster Resilience Strategy and Leadership Vary Widely Among States
New research finds some have taken steps to plan and adapt, but others are lagging -
December 11, 2023
Can Zoning Save Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH)?
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: What role can zoning play in shielding naturally occurring affordable housing from redevelopment? -
December 6, 2023
The Continuing Evolution of Complete Streets
December 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the first official use of the term "Complete Streets," learn about key trends and influencing factors that will continue to shape the Complete Streets of the future. -
November 13, 2023
Tribal Zoning? Well, It’s Complicated
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: How can planners help tribal authorities apply zoning to "checkboard" reservations? -
October 11, 2023
Are We Close to Automating Zoning?
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Can generative AI take the drudgery out of drafting zoning regulations? -
September 12, 2023
Who’s That Knocking at Your Door?
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: How equitable are your zoning regulations for home occupations? -
August 14, 2023
Whose Status Quo Should Zoning Protect?
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: How can zoning protect historically disadvantaged and vulnerable neighborhoods and business districts? -
July 18, 2023
Futureproofing the Planning Profession
Learn about the skills and approaches planners will need to future-proof the profession. -
July 10, 2023
Small Churches Equal Big Opportunity
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Does your zoning allow new housing on faith-based land? -
June 9, 2023
Is Creativity the Key to Better Staff Reports?
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Could "right-brain" thinking unlock the potential of your staff reports? -
June 7, 2023
The Importance of Intergenerational Communities
Multigenerational and age-friendly communities create a vehicle to bring generations together; reduce age segregation and ageism; decrease social isolation, depression, and loneliness; and improve community infrastructure and facilities. -
May 10, 2023
Should States Shrink Zoning?
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Is state preemption of local zoning the answer to the housing crisis? -
April 25, 2023
When It Comes to Large-Scale Solar, Show, Don't (Just) Tell
There's no substitute for a good visualization when it comes to demystifying large-scale solar development. -
April 12, 2023
Can You Zone Drone Use?
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: How might communities apply zoning concepts to regulations for drone operations? -
March 10, 2023
What's in a (Street) Name?
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: How do street naming and addressing regulations affect planning goals? -
March 6, 2023
Plan Now to Overcome Reflexive Opposition to Large-Scale Solar
Reflexive opposition to large-scale solar projects is on the rise in many parts of the country. Start planning now to avoid the reactive trap. -
February 16, 2023
It's Perilous to Ignore “Gentle” Zoning Reforms
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Could subtle zoning changes make a big difference in your community? -
January 24, 2023
Updated Large-Scale Solar Guidance from Solar@Scale
Is your community ready to have a conversation about large-scale solar development? Check out the new second edition of the Solar@Scale guidebook for a comprehensive discussion of local policies and actions that can affect the siting and design of community- and utility-scale solar facilities. -
January 13, 2023
Demystifying the Zoning Reform Process
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Is your community overdue for a new development code? -
December 12, 2022
Queuing Up Drive-Thru Zoning Reforms
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: What does a sensible approach to zoning for drive-through services look like? -
November 11, 2022
Don’t Sleep on Coliving
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Your zoning code probably isn't ready for modern coliving communities. -
October 26, 2022
Planning With Nature at the Center
The vision of life in a biophilic city is one where we are not separate from nature, but intimately embedded within it. -
August 9, 2022
Visual Guide to Agrivoltaics and Wildlife-Friendly Solar
Agrivoltaics — or the placement of a solar energy system on the same parcel of land as agricultural production — and wildlife-friendly solar practices can help communities capture multiple benefits from large-scale solar development. -
June 3, 2022
It’s Not Necessarily Solar vs. Agriculture
The topic of large-scale solar development in rural communities doesn't have to be controversial. Learn how local officials and developers can work together to clear up the misconception that these two land uses cannot co-exist. -
January 21, 2022
Grappling with the Racist Legacy of Zoning
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Jenny Raitt challenges planners to reckon with zoning's racist legacy, and work to build integrated and equitable communities. -
December 15, 2021
Three Bold Proposals for Zoning Reform
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Three recent issues of Zoning Practice have offered bold new visions for alternatives to the status quo in zoning. These visions range from a radical rebuild to an attempt to harness self-interest to advance elusive collective goals. -
December 8, 2021
Smart Cities – Integrating Technology, Community, and Nature
For many planners, “smart city” is just a buzzword that does not connect with their community goals and is not part of their vision or toolkit. This is something that needs to change. The question is not whether planners should plan for smart cities, but rather how they can do so in equitable and sustainable ways. -
December 7, 2021
The Silver Linings of Asset-Based Community Development
Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) is a framework to discover and mobilize assets or resources available in a community and use them to benefit residents. -
November 12, 2021
Is Campus Zoning Due for a Shake-Up?
Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Cities, towns, and counties often take a light touch when it comes to zoning for major educational and health-care campuses. But do demographic and technological changes mean it's time to rethink the status quo? -
November 10, 2021
The Multiple Benefits of Dementia-Friendly Communities
The number of Americans living with dementia, which includes Alzheimer’s disease, is growing. Planners can play a key role in making sure that communities allow for the best possible quality of life for this growing population. -
November 1, 2021
Solar@Scale: Opportunities for Planners to Act
A new guidebook from APA and ICMA highlights key opportunities for planners to help speed the decarbonization of the U.S. electricity grid by promoting context-sensitive large-scale solar development in the communities they serve. -
September 28, 2021
Helping Planners Advance Disaster Recovery
APA recently published the Post-Disaster Recovery Guide for Planners — a resource that aims to help local planners working for communities that are recovering from all kinds of disasters, including catastrophic flooding and damage and disruption from cascading hazards. -
July 16, 2021
Digitalization and Implications for Planning
Digitalization is the conversion of processes or roles from an analog form to a digital form? What are some of these broader societal trends in digitalization, and what are the implications for planning? -
July 9, 2021
Combating Climate Change Through Vacant Lot Restoration
A success story of how vacant lots in Philadelphia were transformed into climate-resilient pollinator gardens to combat climate change. -
February 10, 2021
The Future of Planning Is Agile, People-centric, and Technologically Advanced
Petra Hurtado, PhD, APA's Research Director, explores patterns and the agility and technological innovation planners need. -
December 21, 2020
Exploring Gaps in Guidance for Large-Scale Solar Development
The Solar@Scale team recently analyzed the existing literature on planning and zoning for large-scale solar development and identified some significant gaps. -
December 18, 2020
Do Planners Know Plan Integration Can Improve Local Resilience?
APA developed a survey and conducted a series of interviews in an attempt to uncover how planners think about plan integration, and what relationship local plan integration efforts may have with building community resilience. -
November 16, 2020
Incorporating Drones Into Planning Practice
City and regional planners are uniquely trained to consider the broader impacts to society of uncrewed aircraft systems like drones. -
October 14, 2020
Solar@Scale: Improving the Local Rules for Large-Scale Solar
APA has partnered with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) on Solar@Scale, a new U.S. Department of Energy-funded project to help realize the potential benefits of large-scale solar development for cities, counties, and special districts. -
January 9, 2020
Crafting a Disaster Recovery Guide With Planners in Mind
APA partnered with Texas A&M University to design a mixed-methods research project examining where planners turn for information and assistance after a disaster. -
June 13, 2019
Partnerships + Data: The Keys to Creating Change and Opportunity
One of APA's partners, Enterprise, describes its work in the arena of housing affordability and accessibility. -
January 29, 2019
Four Plans for Shaping the Future of Puerto Rico
A summary of four plans that will shape Puerto Rico’s response to the urgent humanitarian needs of the island’s residents after Hurricanes Irma and Maria. -
July 19, 2018
Planning Resilient Urban Forests with i-Tree Landscape
i-Tree Landscape is a free geographic tool that uses tree information to aid local and regional planning for more resilient communities. -
April 6, 2018
Green Schoolyards for Healthy Communities
What if every schoolyard was a green schoolyard? Multifunctional schoolyards can ensure kids' healthy mental, physical, cognitive, and social development. -
January 16, 2018
Living on the Edge: Get to Know Your Wildland-Urban Interface
One-third of the U.S. population lives in the wildland-urban interface (WUI). It's important for planners to consider the WUI during the community planning process due to its direct link to potential wildfire disasters. -
December 18, 2017
Growing Older — and Designing Smarter
First in a series from the Healthy Aging Working Group: The Healthy Communities in PA task force encourages healthy community design in Pennsylvania by combining expertise from the planning and health fields.
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