2025 Keynote Speakers

Opening Keynote Speaker | Wednesday, October 8 | 1:00 PM - 1:30 PM

The Strength of Street Knowledge: Embedded Planning as Community-Based Praxis

Session Description:

This talk introduces a new method of urban planning called Embedded Planning Praxis. Embedded Planning revolutionizes practice by emphasizing street-level planning within the community rather than traditional desk-based methods. Developed by Jonathan Pacheco Bell in South LA as an outgrowth of code enforcement work, Embedded Planning has evolved into a community-based praxis that seeks to rebuild trust and foster meaningful relationships with marginalized communities historically harmed by inequitable planning

Embedded Planning is working directly from community spaces and places. Embedded planners engage residents in everyday environments, evolving practice from desk-based policy formation to on-the-ground collaboration in and from the neighborhood. This immersive approach helps planners gain a deeper understanding of local needs and aspirations, ensuring that community voices and needs significantly shape planning decisions. Embedded Planning is a timely evolution in the field that aligns with growing calls for more equity-centered, place-based, participatory practices. By embedding themselves into neighborhoods, planners build strong and authentic relationships, moving beyond one-off, transactional consultations to create lasting and impactful partnerships.

Using a reflective practitioner framework, Jonathan will illustrate what Embedded Planning looks like, explain its role as his motivating throughline, highlight embedded planners implementing these inclusive methods coast to coast, while highlighting the challenges and benefits of this praxis. Attendees will learn how this emerging movement represents a crucial shift towards centering planning as an active and continuous process from within the community and represents the future of planning.

About the Speaker

Jonathan Pacheco Bell | VP of Policy and Programs at Casita Coalition

Jonathan Pacheco Bell is an urban planner with 20 years of experience across California’s public, private, and nonprofit sectors. As a former Los Angeles Zoning Enforcement Officer, Jonathan saw the harms of inequitable zoning, inspiring him to create Embedded Planning – a street-level advocacy praxis. He now advances housing solutions as VP of Policy and Programs at Casita Coalition and serves as Co-President of the Florence-Firestone Community Organization in South LA. A published APA leader, Jonathan lectures nationally on Embedded Planning. In 2024, he won the Planning Advocate Award from APA Los Angeles and Planning Pioneer Award from APA Inland Empire. 

Closing Keynote Speaker | Friday, October 10 | 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

TBA

Session Description:

TBA

About the Speaker

Annis W. Sengupta, PhD | Director of Arts and Culture at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council

Annis W. Sengupta, PhD, is the Director of Arts and Culture at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the regional planning agency serving the people who live and work in the 101 cities and towns of metro Boston. She leads efforts to promote the policy and planning conditions that allow arts and culture to thrive, to build the field of arts and culture planning, and to integrate creativity, arts and culture into planning in ways that increase its resonance and impact. Prior to joining MAPC, Dr. Sengupta worked for more than a decade in the arts and culture and planning fields as a consultant and lecturer. She earned a master's degree in city planning and doctorate in urban and regional studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BA in architecture from Yale University. Her research explores the connections between place, culture, and identity in the context of racial politics and the immigrant experience.  Annis served on the Massachusetts Cultural Policy Development Advisory Council, and currently serves on the MASSCreative Policy Committee and is the Chair of the American Planning Association Arts & Planning Division.