|
Submit Your Session Proposal for APA WA 2025
Call for Sessions
Proposal Due Date: May 2, 2025
The Washington Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA WA) invites you to submit your session proposals for the 2025 Annual Planning Conference, to be held October 8-10, 2025, at the Hotel Murano in Downtown Tacoma, Washington.
Conference Theme - The 2025 conference theme is Bold Visions & Smart Solutions for an Ever-Changing Future. Many communities across the State are updating or implementing their long-range plans to balance growth, housing needs, transportation, environmental resiliency, resource protection, and equity. At the same time, local governments continue to improve quality of life and economic opportunities in legacy neighborhoods and business districts.
Conference Tracks - To support our conference theme, we are calling for session submittals and mobile workshops that align with one of the following tracks.
Track 1: Community Financing Techniques
Economic development and community enhancement initiatives typically require capital projects, programs, and professional services, which involve associated costs and investments. These may involve financial strategies including new revenue sources, project budgeting, and financing strategies for both public and private entities.
| Questions to Address |
Potential Track Session Themes |
- How can we, as a profession, effectively communicate the appropriate use of different economic development tools?
- Which tools are more suited for regional versus local contexts?
- How can regional economic strategies be integrated with Tribal planning, both on and off Reservations?
- What innovative financing mechanisms can be utilized to uplift communities while addressing concerns regarding population displacement?
- Have you found innovative partnerships to move projects forward?
- What lessons can we draw from past economic initiatives to inform future policy changes?
|
- Economic Development Tools
- Market Studies
- Project Proformas
- Public or Private Project Financing Tools/Sources
- Business Improvement Districts and Similar Programs
- Community Partnerships
- Impact Fees, Grants, and Other Revenue Sources
- Software Tools
- Demographics and Income Attainment
|
Track 2: Technology and Innovation
Spatial Analysis and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are rapidly advancing within the planning profession, offering a wide range of applications that enhance both long-range and current planning processes. Notable examples include expanded capabilities for scenario planning, tree canopy analysis, public comment coding, and language translation technologies, each contributing in unique ways to the planning field. Effectively leveraging these innovations significantly enhances the profession's ability to address spatial and institutional inequities, foster climate resilience, and improve the public’s understanding of planning issues.
| Questions to Address |
Potential Track Session Themes |
- What technologies are being actively pursued in your community?
- Which technologies are your elected officials encouraging you to explore?
- What challenges must be overcome to effectively use these technologies, and how have you collaborated with your IT and GIS departments to facilitate this?
- Given the privacy concerns often associated with technology, how have you handled these discussions within your community?
- Which technologies have proven most successful in supporting day-to-day planning activities?
- What are the ethical considerations of these emerging technological resources?
|
- Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Tools and Software Packages.
- Training for Technology
- Technologies to Assist with Community Engagement
- Long-range Growth Protections
- AI Generated Graphics and Conceptual Plans
- Legal Considerations with Technology
- Ethical Considerations with Technology
- Case Studies where Technology Improved the Planning Process
- Colleges, Universities, and Local Schools as technical resources.
- The Effects of AI in our Communities – are there issues of Equity?
|
Track 3: Lessons Learned / Case Studies
Planners across the State of Washington continually implement both new and established requirements of the Growth Management Act (GMA) and respond to the changing needs in our communities. As we move forward, it’s important to share experiences from concept to implementation. This is an opportunity to share your achievements and lessons learned along the way that are important to pass on to other planners, both seasoned professionals and those new to the practice. At the same time, planning projects are becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, often leading to new and bold solutions to address the complex challenges the profession faces.
| Questions to Address |
Potential Track Session Themes |
- What programs, policies, and actionable objectives have been successful in your community and could be applied in urban, rural, and tribal areas?
- What issues may not have obvious solutions, but are critical to bring to the profession’s attention for further discussion?
- What policy changes are necessary to support physical changes in our environments?
- What interdisciplinary approaches are being pursued to understand the complex systems of our built and natural environments?
- How are historically marginalized communities being included and how are their stories being heard?
- How would your team approach a planning initiative different?
|
- Neighborhood Plans
- Comprehensive Plans and Periodic Updates
- Shoreline Master Program Updates
- Community Engagement Initiatives
- Economic Redevelopment Plans
- Site-Specific Reuse Plans / Property Revitalization Projects
- Buildable Lands Analysis
- SEPA Checklists and Determinations
- Capital Improvement Projects (e.g., transportations, parks, utilities, etc.)
- Public Outreach and Messaging
- Staff Training
|
Track 4: Redevelopment and Community Revitalization Strategies
Redevelopment activities present astounding opportunities for our communities in terms of land use capacity, historic preservation, neighborhood revitalization, and placing underutilized land back into productive use. Redevelopment can come in the form of adaptive reuse of existing buildings, urban infill projects on vacant/underutilized properties, and/or transformed antiquated structures with new community-serving uses. Redevelopment can be complex as we must recognize the surrounding context, respond to potential site contamination/hazardous building materials (e.g., brownfields), address prolonged infrastructure deficiencies, align with strict land use/building regulations, and partner with established residents/business communities. At the same time, Redevelopment presents opportunities to revive struggling neighborhoods, preserve our local history/character, and complement capital investments in the vicinity.
| Questions to Address |
Potential Track Session Themes |
- What redevelopment projects, in the broad sense of the word, are important to share with the profession?
- How do we identify vacant and underutilized properties that could be targets for redevelopment activities?
- What are redevelopment strategies being implemented in urban, rural, and tribal communities?
- What incentives are available to support redevelopment?
- How can we evolve our regulatory frameworks to better support adaptive reuse, urban infill, and comprehensive redevelopment projects?
|
- Site-Specific Reuse / Development Plans
- Regulatory Barriers and Solutions to Redevelopment Projects
- Grant and funding support for Redevelopment
- Potential Contamination and Hazardous Materials Associated with Redevelopments Sites
- Brownfields and Environmental Site Assessments
- Property Inventories
- Supportive Capital Improvement Projects
- State and Federal Agency Partners
- Marketing and Area Promotion Initiatives
- Righting Past Wrongs Associated with Urban (Re)development
- Ports
- Manufacturing and Industrial Lands
|
Track 5: Planning Essentials
Planning requires us to continuously improve our skills, respond to local needs, implement ever changing governmental processes/mandates, and engage with the community members we serve. This track is focused on continuing education for the work we do as planners ranging from Best Management Practices for certain topics, to State/Federal mandates pertaining to comprehensive planning, permitting, and public funding.
| Questions to Address |
Potential Track Session Themes |
- What are the requirements for comprehensive planning and land use regulations pursuant to the Washington State Growth Management Act?
- How are the changes at the Federal level going to affect State and Local governments?
- What are the methods for defining the local demographics and identifying community need?
- What support resources are available to local planning professional?
- How can we employ inclusive and wide sweeping community engagement plans with limited resources?
|
- 2025 GMA Requirements
- Shoreline Master Programs
- Comprehensive Plan updates
- Demographic Forecasts
- Housing Action Plans
- Subarea Plan Components
- Zoning Code Updates
- Improving Public Safety Through Urban Design
- Addressing Affordability and Assisting Individuals Experiencing Homelessness
- Planning for tribal and First Nation Communities
- Ports
- Manufacturing and Industrial Lands
|
Questions
Please contact the APA Washington Office at (206) 682-7436 or [email protected]
Your Session Proposal
How to Prepare Your Proposal:
Topic and Presenters: The first thing is to decide on your topic and think through the story to be told and who are the best people to tell that story. You are welcome to invite non-planners to present if their comments add to the topic, as well as academics whose research may further support the approach you are discussing.
Session Criteria: Your session description will need to describe how your session meets the following criteria:
- How will the event offer a professionally relevant learning experience for a planner (e.g. for a planner with at least four years of experience after earning a two-year master's degree)?
- How does this event meet a specific planning-related training objective?
- What are the specific training objectives and how does your event meet them?
Four categories of CMs (Ethics, Law, Equity, and Sustainability and Resilience) are mandatory for AICP planners to acquire during each 2-year reporting period, and the Chapter will want to be able to offer these CM-approved sessions whenever possible. To propose a session offering one of the mandatory credits, at least one speaker must be AICP certified (Law credits require a majority of speakers who are AICP). In addition, your Session Description must include an explanation of how your session meets the Mandatory session criteria (see Criteria for CM Mandatory Credits (planning.org).
The following information will be requested during the Session Proposal submission process.
- Session Title & Session Description, including the objectives of the session - 600 word limit
- Short summary of Session - limit of 150 words (for conference marketing)
- Session Format (Point/Counterpoint, Panel Discussions, Moderated Debate, Interactive Workshops, etc.)
- Proposed Session Length. To make conference scheduling easier, the proposed standards session length is 75 minutes in length. If you feel your session should be longer or shorter, please provide a justification and indicate the desired length and the committee will consider your request.
- Session Coordinator Contact information
- Presenters - names, contact information and biographies.
- Moderator (if appropriate for panel) - names, contact information and biographies.
- Audio Visual Requirements
Please provide as complete a proposal as possible to help us complete the CM forms. The selection committee will score complete proposals higher than incomplete proposals! If your proposal is selected, any missing information needed for CM forms will be due by July 7, 2025.
Submittal Criteria
Complete the submission form by May 2, 2025. The Program Committee will select conference sessions considering the following criteria:
- Proposal provides the information requested above.
- Sessions that are unique, engaging, and, while not mandatory, address aspects of the conference theme, and represent issues that planners encounter throughout the state.
- Sessions that include APA (and AICP) members, although, sessions offering panels with diverse perspectives (e.g., multi-disciplinary views, geographic diversity, etc.) are also desired.
The Program Committee will select sessions that represent a breadth of topics, geographies, firms, agencies, and individual presenters. Please keep this in mind as you propose sessions. Also, the Committee is responsible for overseeing the content of each session and, as the conference program develops, edits to proposals, suggestions for additions, or other changes may be requested to better balance each session.
Registration Information
We do not pay honoraria or reimburse for travel or lodging expenses. Members of sessions selected will be notified once conference registration is live.
AICP - CM Credits
Conference Sessions will offer AICP Certification Maintenance, so session organizers are asked to structure their proposals to be consistent with the CM learning objectives. Please fill out the session form below. Please reference CM learning criteria in structuring your session so the chapter can ensure that it is possible to offer CM credits for it (if the session lends itself to that.)
|
