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Shaping Planning Conversations
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Recent Episodes
Mapping Environmental Justice in NYC with Paul Lozito, AICP
In this episode of Critical Conversations in Transportation Planning, hosts Em Hall and Divya Gandhi sit down with Paul Lozito, AICP, Deputy Executive Director of the NYC Mayor's Office of Climate and Environmental Justice, to explore how environmental justice is reshaping urban planning in New York City. Lozito traces the roots of the EJNYC report and mapping tool back to decades of environmental justice organizing, and explains how the city is using data to identify "have" and "have-not" communities across heat, flooding, and tree canopy access. Along the way, Lozito shares practical lessons for planners anywhere — not just in a city with New York's resources — on grounding climate work in community history, hard data, and tangible action.
The New 21st Century ROAD to Housing Law with Jason Jordan
In this special episode of the APA Podcast, recorded fresh off the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act officially becoming law, host Mike Johnson talks to Jason Jordan, APA's public affairs principal. Jason dives into some of the important provisions in the new legislation, outlines some of the funding opportunities, providing a general sense of what comes next and what this means for planners moving forward.
Ten Percent Braver: Championing Personal resilience with Jaz Ampaw-Farr
This special APA Podcast episode features an intimate and uplifting conversation between host Mike Johnson and NPC26 keynote speaker Jaz Ampaw-Farr — an internationally acclaimed British motivational speaker, leadership consultant, and self-described "resilience ninja." Jaz earned mainstream recognition in the UK as a candidate on Series 9 of the BBC reality show The Apprentice and later via her popular TEDx talk, "The Power of Everyday Heroes." Jaz recounts her challenging upbringing in foster care, the transformative impact of five teachers who believed in her, and how sharing her story led to global speaking engagements and her acclaimed book, Because of You, This Is Me.
From Disinvestment to Renewal: Lessons from detroit's Joe Louis Greenway
Recorded at the 2026 National Planning Conference in Detroit (NPC26), this episode of Critical Conversations in Transportation Planning features Idrees Mutahr and Reuben Riggs-Bookman, PhD, the planning and implementation team behind the Joe Louis Greenway. They walk co-hosts Divya Gandhi and Em Hall through how their team built an engagement framework that goes far beyond typical public involvement, with more than 200 community meetings, a presence at a diverse array of events, and a deliberate effort to inherit and honor years of relational groundwork laid before either of them arrived. They also get honest about where that model has been tested.
Ryan Slattery, AICP, on Resilience, Community Trust, and Tough Conversations
In this episode of People Behind the Plans, APA Editor in Chief Meghan Stromberg talks with Ryan Slattery, AICP, resilience and hazard mitigation planning manager at Freese and Nichols, about how to have honest conversations with communities that don’t share your worldview — and why that skill is at the heart of good planning. Drawing on a decade of resilience work in Houston, a city that has faced hurricanes, a historic winter storm, and a global pandemic, Ryan explains why meeting people where they are isn’t about avoiding hard truths. It’s about finding the way in. He also talks about what it’s like to be a planner inside a large engineering firm, how he navigates data gaps in the current federal landscape, and why the most critical feedback from a community engagement session is some of the best data.
From Data Centers to City Streets: Rethinking Infrastructure in a Digital Age
Co-hosts Divya Gandhi and Em Hall continue the Critical Conversations in Transportation Planning series with a conversation that challenges transportation planners to reckon with a new kind of infrastructure: the data center. Recorded at the 2026 National Planning Conference in Detroit, this episode features Manny Patole, Industry Assistant Professor at NYU’s Center for Urban Science + Progress (CUSP), whose work sits at the intersection of community data science, environmental justice, and AI’s hidden physical footprint.
Planning Education, Uncertainty, and the rapid evolution of AI with tom Sanchez, AICP
In this episode of the Trend Talk podcast, a companion series for the 2026 Trend Report for Planners, Joe DeAngelis, AICP, research manager at APA, chats with author and professor Tom Sanchez, AICP. The two engage in a thoughtful discussion about the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and planning, reflecting on the unpredictability of the future, the importance of learning from past trends, and the need for planners to remain both cautious and open-minded.
Resilient Landscapes: The Land Use Planning for Wildfires in California training Program
In this episode of the APA podcast, Molly Mowery, AICP, executive director of Community Wildfire Planning Center, and Matt Damon, staff chief of Community Wildfire Mitigation Assistance with CAL FIRE / Office of the State Fire Marshal, explore California’s Land Use Planning for Wildfires in California Training Program, recipient of the 2025 Resilience and Sustainability Award. They discuss how the unique interdisciplinary program brings planners and fire officials together to reduce risk, strengthen collaboration, and improve long-term resilience.
Connected Neighborhoods: The Joe Louis Greenway Neighborhood Study
In this episode of the APA podcast, Michele Flournoy, urban designer at Detroit's Planning Development Department, and Ashley DiCaro, senior associate at Interface Studio discuss Detroit's Heavyweight Impact: The Joe Louis Greenway Neighborhood Planning Study for Inclusive Neighborhood Growth, recipient of the 2025 National Planning Excellence Award.
Governance, Preemption, and the Importance of Protecting Local Representation with Nestor Davidson
In this episode of the Trend Talk podcast, a companion series for the 2026 Trend Report for Planners, Joe DeAngelis, AICP, research manager at the American Planning Association (APA), sits down with Nestor Davidson, the Emma Bloomberg Professor of Real Estate at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. An urban law expert, Nestor delves into the complex dynamics between state and local governance, highlighting the adversarial relationships and the challenges of state preemption.