Approximately 4,000 urban planners from across the country will converge on Huntington Place in downtown Detroit from April 25-28 when the Chicago-based American Planning Association (APA) hosts its annual National Planning Conference (NPC26) in the Motor City.
Detroit is providing the stage for the nation’s largest gathering of urban planners at a time when communities around the country are grappling with housing supply shortages, aging infrastructure, and climate resilience.
“This is Detroit’s time to spotlight its continued momentum,” says Sue Schwartz, president of the APA. “The city is a powerful backdrop for sharing how to evolve with innovation, drive meaningful change in communities, and lessons learned from its remarkable revitalization.”
The four-day conference will feature sessions that provide insights and innovative solutions for some of the most relevant planning topics today, including:
- What to do when data centers come to town.
- Preserving mom and pop shops.
- Diagnosing and correcting dysfunction in local housing markets.
- Creating economic development opportunities by leveraging public-private partnerships.
Attendees will experience Detroit’s planning leadership and success first-hand through nearly 50 mobile workshops, visiting neighborhoods like the East Side, Eastern Market, and the Joe Louis Greenway. These “living laboratories” enable planners from across the country and around the globe to experience Detroit and to take lessons and inspiration back to their own communities, according to event organizers.
APA also will host an exclusive screening of “Resurgo,” a documentary by Detroit resident Stephen McGee that follows the city’s challenges and reinvention.
Keynote speakers will include Jaz Ampaw-Farr from the U.K. who will discuss being 10 percent braver every day and John Register, a Paralympic silver medalist and Army veteran, who will share how to overcome unexpected life-altering challenges and embrace a “new normal mindset.”
For more information, visit planning.org/npc.
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