2024 Keynote Speakers

Opening Speaker | Wednesday, October 16

John Paget

John Paget's career as a filmmaker and civic storyteller began with a journey across America on Route 66, capturing the stories of its small towns.

His documentaries sparked a revival of the historic highway, drawing travelers and inspiring community comebacks.

In Buffalo, New York, Paget created several popular short films that helped catalyze revitalization and the ongoing renaissance of a once-moribund rustbelt city.

Drawing on that experience, he founded First+Main Films, a creative studio that works with cities and towns across America to create films that foster civic pride, build community, and spark imagination.

A Story Can Change a City

For a space to become a place, it must have a local narrative—a story of itself, that can be heard, told, and retold. But a civic story isn't just about history; it can transform a city's future. Explore the power of storytelling to shape places and engage communities through the lens of filmmaker John Paget.

Thursday Speaker | Thursday, October 17

Rick Steves

Rick Steves is a popular public television host, a best-selling guidebook author, and an outspoken activist who encourages Americans to broaden their perspectives through travel. He is the founder and owner of Rick Steves' Europe, a travel business with a small-group tour program that brings more than 30,000 people to Europe annually. Rick lives and works in his hometown of Edmonds, Washington, where his office window overlooks his old junior high school.

Piazzas, People-friendly Public Spaces, and Europe with Rick Steves

Rick Steves has traveled extensively in Europe to learn about other cultures, history, and urban design, and he happily shares his insight and travel tips with others through his travel books and t.v. shows. He is uniquely qualified to comment on the power of public spaces and there is one word that sums up why - of all the places he visits - Italy is Rick’s favorite country:piazzas. Fresh back from his travels updating his European guidebooks, Rick will reflect on how public spaces such as Italy’s piazzas can refresh and inspire and what lessons planners can apply to their communities in Washington State. In a talk written exclusively for the American Planning Association, he'll share what he loves about Europe and how European cities are evolving to be green, sustainable, and smartly designed for the future.